Free Will
by SoWrites
Summary: Emotions run rampant in the "wonderful" Village of the Syrinx, where Team 7 has an important mission. But what happens when Sasuke and Naruto encounter boys who look just like them and some "fabulous" red go-go boots? Edited to be NaruSasu. Pretimeskip
1. Dreamline

Alright, so I came back years later and just kinda read through, I didn't change much. It's not a bad fic, but it reads more like and anime and I'm strictly manga nowadays. Read my newer stuff if you want to really gauge my writing ability. Oh, and I prefer NaruSasu so I wanted to edit for that.

This story was inspired by the songs 'Free Will' and '2112' by Rush. I do not own any of Rush's songs or Rush itself. I don't own Naruto, I think we all know that Masashi Kishimoto does, and I'm not him nor do I claim to be him or claim to own Naruto, for that matter.

**Free Will**

**Chapter 1**

Someone was holding him; he could feel the strong arms around his waist. Was it a woman with a strong grip? He saw a flash of pale skin before dark grey pools framed with long lashes stared into his unfathomably blue eyes. Black tresses fell carelessly on the ivory pillow. He and the unidentified lover shared a passionate embrace. His lover struggled slightly, but soon they eased into submission. Who was this person...who...who cares! They felt _good_! They were so soft and their skin was creamy ivory perfection. He almost felt guilty that his dream partner wasn't Sakura, though they did seem to be as flat-chested as his pink crush. Their tongues met in a passionate dance of tastes and pure want. His lover's legs wrapped around his Naruto's waist, so he pulled them closer, but doing so caused something to prod Naruto's stomach; he gasped at the realization that...

**CRASH!**

The Uchiha's eyelids delicately parted and blinked against the sun shining into his dark grey pools. Quickly shaking off sleep, he first noticed that he had left his television on again. Sasuke used to like silence, and he can't put his finger on what changed him, but hearing someone talk comforts him enough to be able to sleep. He gave a small sigh as he pressed the Power button with a creamy ivory finger.

Uchiha Sasuke glided his balcony door open and stepped into the morning air. The sky was stained an orange that reminded him of a particularly annoying team mate. His eyes slitted reflexively as he scolded himself for letting anything remind him of Naruto.

He scoffed and made his way to his bathroom to take a five minute shower and take care of human needs. It's strange to think of such a perfect looking creature actually needing to relieve himself. Shouldn't someone as perfect as him have some amazing jutsu that makes any kind of waste disappear or turn into chakra? The genius thirteen year-old genin could probably create such a jutsu, but he had more important jutsus to learn for his revenge.

Oh, yes, revenge. The bittersweet word placed a grim look on Sasuke's face as he dried his hair, which immediately started to spike in its usual way. When he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he almost cringed. He had already promised himself to never show emotions like that, and with that thought his face changed into a cold glare.

He dressed in his usual uniform of white cargo shorts and a high-collared blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back. Sasuke did own other clothing, but the teachers at the Ninja Academy had taught the students one day to pick one good outfit to wear when dealing with any ninja duties; that way you never have to waste time thinking of what outfit you want to wear or stain any other clothing with blood. And today he did have ninja duties to do, for he had to meet his team as they set out on their new mission to the Village of the Syrinx.

Sasuke noticed the time and realized he had to hurry a little to get to the gate on time. He packed all that he needed for the trip the night before. None of that included his normal clothing, and that bothered him only slightly. He didn't think a uniform would be such a problem.

Sasuke decided to have a quick breakfast of toast; Sasuke is one of the few people who can manage to eat usually messy food and stay clean. He checked the time once more before heading out, tying his headband securely around his forehead.

As he walked, he pondered what the last words Itachi hears should be.

The blonde-haired kitsune gave a loud yell before his eyes were even open and he threw himself off the side of his bed in shock. Something hard had hit his head. He saw the glass on the floor first and then his eyes dragged upward to see the damage done to his window. Naruto heard wicked cackling and didn't bother to see who it came from. Strengthening himself against his tears, he cleared his throat so he could yell through the window,

"JERKS! IF I SEE YOU AGAIN, YOU'RE DEAD!"

Though he said it to no one in particular, it made him feel a little better. Not that he'd really kill a villager, but it's not like he never dreamed of it. Revenge wasn't his forte; it was more the forte of duck-butt Sasuke. Naruto gave a mean chuckle at the expense of his pale team mate. At the thought of his cold rival, his tears cleared up immediately.

He only took a second to notice this strange effect before preparing instant ramen in a cup, the breakfast of kings if the kings were Naruto, taking care of bathroom business, and throwing clothing on. That feat was more difficult for the absent-minded boy than it should be. It took two tries before his shirt was not backwards and inside-out. He almost smacked himself when he realized he had his pants on backwards!

After righting this blunder and inhumanly shoving the scolding ramen down his throat, he bounced towards the mirror, his energy coming back to him. He tied his headband with a snap and gave himself a nod and a vulpine grin, but he could see the broken window in the reflection and it depressed him once again.

He was passing the clock on the way to the broom when he saw the time. Naruto cursed and dashed out of his room towards his teams' meeting place, not forgetting to grab his backpack haphazardly packed with necessities; though it contained no orange clothing. He was told not to pack any outer clothing because they were going to get uniforms at the village. _Yuck, uniforms_.

Yelling like the idiot he was, Naruto flew down the street towards his team. He had the biggest grin a person could manage. The sun was behind him and his blonde hair fluttered in the speed of his movements.

One would think that he never experienced a bad moment in his life. The truth was he was just an amazing liar. He could lie well enough to fool even himself. He could make himself think that the looks he was getting from the villagers were not hateful; he was getting many glares because of his obnoxious running.

On instinct, he dashed towards the pink-haired kunoichi whose eyes were practically glued on Sasuke. She was blushing as she handed Sasuke a frilly bento, which he shoved into his backpack without any more than a nod.

"Sakura-Chaaaaaaaaaan!"

Naruto waved and stumbled; waving had caused him to go off balance. He couldn't stop himself from running. With a frightened and guttural yell, he fell over, did a painful somersault, then smacked down flat on his back. The pain made him groan, and the embarrassment made him groan louder. A fuming Sakura glared down at him. Her sheer ignorance of him when Sasuke was around made Naruto blindingly angry at that pompous prick of a team mate.

_That total asshole_, Naruto thought. He looked the opposite direction from Sakura and his sight met with something embarrassing...Sasuke's crotch. In fact, from his angle, Naruto could see beneath Sasuke's shirt as it fluttered in the wind and, embarrassing Naruto even more, he could see a little bit up Sasuke's shorts. Sasuke's shadowed alabaster skin travelled up until cut off by the tightest part of his shorts. His gaze had only settled there for a second before travelling up to meet the two charcoal orbs framed by dark lashes. He laughed inwardly at how girly-looking Sasuke was, until a flashback from his dream made his breath catch in his throat and his face burn to the point that he couldn't even feel it anymore. A second before he could scramble to his feet, a soft but slightly calloused hand gripped his wrist and righted Naruto roughly. He could just feel the burning death glare Sakura was giving him.

Well, what was Sasuke supposed to do? The blonde dolt just fell right in front of him. Sasuke had shivered when he followed Naruto's gaze. Did that idiot really think that he couldn't follow the direction of those ocean blue eyes? He did the only thing that he thought could right the situation, but noticed his mistake once Naruto was righted again. For the second time that day, he scolded himself inwardly. 'Nice towards Naruto' was not on the top of Sasuke's list of personality traits, but maybe more his subconscious traits. And to complete the train of horrible timing and mistakes...

POOF!

Kakashi looked at his two students questioningly, seeing as Sasuke didn't have the chance to let go of Naruto yet.

"Is there anything I need to know about you two?"

Their sensei was being serious. Ever since he had seen that kiss between the two in the classroom, he knew those two might end up having feelings for each other. Or maybe that's Icha Icha Paradise that's making him think such romantic thoughts!

Sasuke immediately let go of the idiot and he went by the old stand-by to clear up any misconceptions. He scoffed at his sensei.

"Usuratonkachi tripped. I've never heard of a ninja that could barely walk."

And he received the expected glare from Naruto. The situation finally relaxed, but one thing stayed odd; Naruto hadn't bothered to move away from Sasuke. Sakura was about to pop a vein at any second. Sakura's anger made Sasuke have a ghost of a smirk on his face, a slightly devious twinkle in his eyes. Kakashi just shook his head, making his tall silver hairstyle wobble a little.

"Okay, to reiterate, the mission in the Village of the Syrinx is to end the gang war that is terrorizing it. The Aerosky gang tends to be cold and precise in their attacks, while gang members of Dragonskin get constantly imprisoned for vandalism and street fights. We're going to be staying with the village leader's family. His has a child that needs taken care of while we aren't working. "

At this Naruto groaned, but Kakashi continued.

"We don't want this to end in a blood bath, so we have to get down to the source of why this war is happening and fix it by forcing a compromise. This may last a couple weeks."

It was Sakura's turn to groan. Her parents were going to flip if she was gone for so long without contacting them. She felt bad when she realized her team mates both didn't have anybody that worries about them like that. Sakura felt a little pool of hurt form in her stomach when it also came to her attention that the boys needed each other, not her. Oh, how unfair. Naruto interrupted her thoughts.

"Uh, sensei? What does 'reiterate' mean?"

And it earned him a bash on the arm from Sasuke.

A generically dressed Jonin gave Kakashi the go-ahead to start their trip to the village, which would only take three hours to get to. They would make it before it even got dark. They set out, not realizing how this mission will be the one to change their lives!

If you review, I will give you cyber buttered popcorn *~*~*~* !


	2. Distant Early Warning

**Chapter 2: Distant Early Warning**

Since there was a nice road leading from Konoha to the Village of the Syrinx, they didn't have to rush through trees branches or go any faster than a walk. Sasuke and Naruto would sometimes break out in races to landmarks in the road only because they were bored out of their minds.

After losing again to the Uchiha by a couple of steps, Naruto felt like collapsing on the ground. Instead, he gave himself a little breather, bending over and taking a few panting breaths. He heard Sasuke breathing hard to the same pace as Naruto and it made the kitsune flashback to his dream once again. Naruto straightened up and looked back at the rest of his team. They picked a particularly far away landmark, and he wondered if they were going to wait for the two little dots in the distance to get to where they were. Apparently, that wasn't on Sasuke's mind because he was still walking down the road. Naruto rushed to catch up and walked side by side with the bastard.

Sasuke had weighed the three options they had: Run back to Sakura and Kakashi. That would leave them breathless again at the end and backtracking was a waste of time. Next option, sit here and wait for Sakura and Kakashi. Sitting with the dobe? He would go crazy! So he went with the third option and kept walking. What he didn't expect was the blonde dolt to actually walk beside him. And Naruto was uncharacteristically silent, but only because he couldn't think of a good thing to fight with Sasuke about. The raven's eyes shut, and he felt his ridiculously long lashes brush his cheek. While shut, his eyes rolled over towards Naruto; when he opened his eyes, he was glaring at blue eyes that had been staring at him.

Naruto hadn't realized that he was looking at Sasuke until he was trapped his Sasuke's cold stare. Not wanting to look weak to the patented Uchiha glare, he glared back with everything he had, his lips pouting unintentionally. _What do girls find attractive about this bastard, anyway? He's nothing but an uncaring statue of chiseled ice, never to be melted by any warmth!_

They glared at each other while walking; their gazes like magnets that drew them closer. One boy was threatening the other with every movement.

_Why does that idiot have to be so sunny all the time?_ Sasuke was well-aware of how much pain Naruto must be in. How is it that he can bury that hurt, that pain, a pain that might even equal Sasuke's own?

"Dobe…" Sasuke began in his usual manner.

"Teme!" Naruto retorted.

"No, you total moron."

Sasuke closed his eyes, cutting the tension that their stare was creating between them.

"I think you look like somebody."

Naruto readied himself for a comeback for whatever person that Sasuke thinks he reminds him of. _That jerk would think of anything! It's probably someone who's weak and obscenely ugly-_

"You look a lot like the 4th Hokage. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, too. Even had your dumb, messy hairstyle," Sasuke explained.

Sasuke pondered his observation and tried to piece things together. It almost fit, the date of Naruto's birth and their similarities paired with the fact that the 4th Hokage was dead. But he wasn't about to give the idiot the hope that maybe his father was a great Hokage.

"Well, you look like- wait, what? I look like a Hokage?"

"You're twisting my words, usuratonkachi. I said you look like the 4th Hokage, not a Hokage yourself. An idiot like you will never be able to be Hokage!"

Naruto knew that getting an out of character compliment from Sasuke wasn't possible, but Naruto was okay with a round-about one.

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am. In fact, when it comes to people and speaking, I'm smarter than you! And I have a beating heart," the blonde grumbled.

Not that he'd admit it, but it almost stung Sasuke to hear that he seemed that heartless, but he knew that it was one of many sacrifices he had to make so he could destroy his older brother. Sasuke just gave his usual smooth grunt and kept walking at a comfortable pace with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He concentrated on the feeling of his muscles tightening and loosening and hitting against his pocketed hands as he walked; he did his best to pay no attention to the idiot kid next to him. _Where's that "I'm with stupid" shirt when it's actually appropriate?_

Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sakura were walking together, only barely able to see the rest of their team. Kakashi sighed and shook his head before he resumed reading his book. Sakura began to run after them, but Kakashi stopped her with a quick hand on her shoulder.

"Leave them alone for a minute. We'll go if they start to kill each other."

"But Kaka-sensei, Sasuke-kun is going to be mad at us for leaving him alone with Naruto," _and I really want to walk next to Sasuke! _Inner Sakura added.

"Sasuke seems quite relaxed to me," Kakashi pointed out coolly.

"Liar! There's no way Sasuke would be relaxed with _Naruto_ around!"

She grumbled at her sensei's obliviousness. Of course, _her_ Sasuke couldn't possibly be comfortable with an idiot like Naruto!

"Eh, Sakura, did you not also notice that Sasuke's chakra isn't flaring up the way it does when he's angry?"

Kakashi tore his gaze from the sultry scene in his book to look at his oblivious pink-haired student. Sakura just pouted and glared at the Naruto speck.

Naruto walked backwards so he could watch his amazingly intelligent crush talk to their perverted sensei. They had finally gotten close enough so that he could at least make out their faces. He could have sworn that he sensed danger coming from Sakura.

Well, his instinct was right, but it wasn't coming from the kunoichi. This became plainly clear as he ended up on his back with something very heavy on top of him. In a stupor, he noticed that the thing on top of him had a great scent; his nose was filled with the heady aroma of raw mint, clove, and man.

He heard a loud metallic clashing and finally realized that they were being attacked by two rogue men wearing chainmail armor. One man's eyes were wild and dark and his hair was a long ebony curtain with bangs that framed his pale face. The other man had light blonde hair that stuck out in crazy directions and he had ragged tan skin. _How is it that we end up finding these crazies on a three hour trip? _Naruto thought bitterly.

"Idiot, get up and help!" Sasuke was straddling Naruto, pushing with all his strength against the dark metallic sword with his kunai; he was close to being overtaken by the sheer weight the attacker had on him. He was being pushed painfully into Naruto's stomach. Naruto, finally getting into action, pulled a kunai out and helped Sasuke push the man away. The sword slipped off the kunai and cut a long slit in Sasuke's shirt, only slightly piercing skin. Sasuke was left with what looked like a crude vest; his alabaster chest was exposed. His muscles rippled in protest as he pushed off of Naruto, his hands on either side of the blonde's head. His hands twisted around and his face lowered dangerously close to Naruto's as he landed a blow on the man's large chest. Sasuke heard a gratifying snap as a rib broke. The man gave a wild yell as he was dealt a strong blow from behind from Kakashi. Naruto, wide-eyed at the closeness of Sasuke's face, scooted his body away. He thought to attack the other man, but their other assailant was too busy running towards the dying body of the other man.

"Kanaye!" the blonde man screamed like he was dying a painful death. He knelt down and held the man's head in a large hand.

"Tora…I promised myself not to die until I got my revenge on…on," the pale man was growing even paler.

The man named Tora gently touched his fingers to the other's lips. Team Seven just stared at the scene taking place in front of them, stunned by the actions of the two men.

"No, Tora…I hated you…" Kanaye coughed and some blood ran down his chin.

"Don't lie to me…you loved me, we loved each other!" the blonde exclaimed.

"Don't…die too." Kanaye's eyes were glazing over.

Tora wailed loudly, his large tears splashed on the dying man's face. The scene was only made more awkward as the crying man bent his head to kiss the dying man, who was too weak to respond. Kanaye's eyes closed in finality. To Naruto and Sasuke, the scene was almost eerily familiar, especially noticing some lines that they themselves had used before.

"Don't die, I love you!" The blonde-haired man screeched. He held his partner in his arms, kissing Kanaye. Tears smeared on the other's cold cheeks.

Sakura burst into tears and ran towards the two men. Tora immediately pulled Kanaye away from the pink-haired monster.

"No, please, I think I can save him, please!" Sakura's voice was whiny and filled with tears. She began doing all of the first aid that she could possibly do for the other man. It looked hopeless, Kanaye just wasn't responding. Tora splayed his upper body over his lover.

"No….no! Kanaye!"

He shook violently and cried angry tears. Everyone heard a small groan. The man everyone thought was dead was stirring slightly. Nobody could look as happy as Tora did the moment he realized that his love was waking. He gave another cry, but this time one of happiness. Sakura was ecstatic because she was able to do something for once! Naruto and Sasuke both looked like they were going to puke at the all-too-familiar situation they were witnessing.

"Thank you, thank you so much, you pink angel!" Tora gave a gigantic smile, his blue eyes tearing with fresh tears.

Sakura nodded, her own tears falling around her smiling cheeks. She skipped back to her team mates and silently motioned for them to get going.

Naruto growled, remembering the fact that they were just attacked by these two homo lovebirds.

"Hey, why did you jerks attack us?"

"I'm so sorry, kid. Kanaye and I were kicked out of our village because we messed up the Royal Monument in one of our rivalry battles. Heh, funny how rivalry can so easily turn into this," He rethought, "Or is it misunderstood feelings of love that cause a rivalry? Oh, I don't care, I have love now! I never thought anyone would love me!"

"Hey, crazy guy, you didn't answer my question." Naruto cringed as his mind registered the 'love can make rivalry' statement.

Tora wasn't fazed by Naruto's 'crazy guy' comment. "Ah, yes. Well, you see, we are starving to death. We weren't able to pack any food before we were tossed out. We thought you had food and we…we weren't thinking clearly. And sexual tension tends to make people a little angrier." He giggled.

Sasuke twitched a little, not wanting to register that last sentence. He reached into his backpack for the bento that Sakura had given him earlier and handed it to the insanely grateful man.

"If you promise not to go insane, you might be able to get help at our village. It's only a couple hours from here. Konoha, if you've ever heard of it." _Take that Naruto! Listen to my heartbeat, usuratonkachi! _Sasuke thought childishly, exacting revenge on his rival.

"That's near here? Oh, that's great!"

Tora continued to grin stupidly. Kanaye was finally sitting up, but his new love wouldn't let go. The blonde idiot was eating some of the bento that Sakura painstakingly made and he also fed some to his (he couldn't get enough of saying it finally) lover!

"You could get help for your…partner." Sasuke couldn't really bring himself to say anything other than 'partner'.

"I'm thankful that we decided to attack such sympathetic people as you! If it wasn't for this, it might have been years before we finally admitted to ourselves our feelings for each other. It was almost like we were going to be rivals forever! Apparently, Tora was wearing rose-tinted glasses if he can find sympathy in the ice prince.

Kakashi coughed to catch the attention of the men. "Well, we have a mission to go do. Take this scroll to the gates of Konoha; they'll let you in and help you at the hospital. And…congratulations?"

He wasn't certain if this was the appropriate thing to say. He led his team away from the embracing men. He was sure this was one of the more…interesting fights he's had. Sakura was still beaming from the romantic scene, not completely registering that it was two men. She daydreamed of being the one holding Sasuke as he said those words to her. He would die; only to be brought back by her kiss! She blushed and squealed to herself.

The two boys, on the other hand, couldn't even bring themselves to look at each other. They couldn't shake the romantic atmosphere that had emanated from the two men who looked too much like them. Both boys realized that the scene was close to the one they shared in the Wave country, though they didn't have any confessions.

_That guy was an idiot. Rivalry doesn't equal love at all! I'd rather be Sasuke's equal than his rival, anyway. Or are those the same thing? In any case, there is absolutely __**no way**__ that I could possibly find that bastard attractive!_ Naruto thought to himself and nodded in self-agreement.

"Oh, Sasuke, your shirt is ripped!"

Sakura announced this giddily. She never saw his chest before, so she hungrily drank in the beauty of the sun gleaming off his fair skin. Sasuke looked down and cursed when he realized that not only was his shirt ruined, he didn't have anything to replace it! He growled and slipped off his destroyed shirt. Sakura grabbed it from his hands, earning herself a dark glare from the Uchiha. She shook in fear, but simultaneously blushed.

"Sasuke, I'll fix it once we get back, okay?" she couldn't wait to cuddle up with her Sasuke-kun's shirt!

Sasuke looked even more like a marble statue with his white shorts and shining skin. He had his arms crossed over his chest, feeling annoyingly bare. It wasn't any better that it was getting colder now that it was autumn. Kakashi smirked under his mask before making an innocent suggestion.

"Why don't you borrow Naruto's jacket?" Sasuke threw his best Uchiha glare at Kakashi. Sasuke wearing _orange_- never! Scandalous! Impossible!

"No, not my jacket…"

Naruto took off his backpack and threw it haphazardly on the ground. He then unzipped his jacket and threw that on top of his backpack; it revealed the black t-shirt that he wore underneath. He shed this last layer off, exposing his tanned chest and his spiral seal around his navel. The seal almost hypnotized Sasuke for a second before he realized that the black shirt was being shoved towards him. Composing himself, he took the shirt and put it on. It was way too snug for his tastes and he couldn't lift his arms without exposing inches of his stomach, but it would have to do.

"Disgusting; it's sweaty!" Sasuke complained.

Sakura was about to swoon with how sexy the tight shirt looked on her crush. Her female hormones wanted to make her ravish the perfect ice prince, but the glare ever-present on his face scared her back to her senses. Naruto zipped his jacket back on and strapped his backpack back on. He had to spend the rest of the trip watching the jerk saunter angrily, his white skin peeking out with every shirt-pulling step. Even Naruto couldn't deny how good Sasuke looked with the shirt on…or off. Naruto mentally whacked himself for having such thoughts.

An hour later, a gate came into view. They had reached their destination!

____________________________________________________________

Though I don't have any reviews yet, I've gotten some golden messages that some people actually favorited my first chapter so, thanks to Mcrluvr02 and hyperspastic-superhero-girl for being the first people to ever favorite me, and I will always remember it ^-^ *~*~* cyber buttered popcorn for you!


	3. Village of the Syrinx

**Chapter 3: Village of the Syrinx**

Sasuke wanted to heave a sigh in relief. He would be able to take off this horrible excuse for a shirt! The shirt rode up when he crossed his arms so he had to tug it down forcefully. Did everything of Naruto's want to annoy him to death? He kept one hand on his shirt to keep it down while he handed the gate guards his pass. The rest of his team followed suit. They were greeted at the gate by a short, fat man in an absolutely ridiculous uniform. The monstrous thing was made from shining silver polyester. The pants were obscenely tight and low. All around the top of the pants was a band of red star studs. It had a turtleneck shirt with long-sleeves that gripped his skin. It had a gaudy red star button on the collar and on the chest was a large, red star painted with the most horrible glitter paint that man has ever dared to produce. The shirt exposed the man's bulging stomach that was tattooed with a glittering dove in flight. And to top it all off, the boots were knee high and red with silver stiletto heels and soles. And it wasn't just this man wearing it; everyone was wearing this horrible outfit. The only difference between the men's and the women's outfit was the horrid mini-skirt the girls forced themselves into. The village leader also had metal circlet on with a star-shaped ruby in the center of his forehead. Then, to top off this ridiculous picture, the man began to sing in the squeakiest voice ever heard.

"Welcome, Team Seven, to the Village of the Syrinx!"

Team Seven listened to him. They all had matching wide-eyed expressions. The man began to speak in a more normal, but still squeaky voice.

"I am the Village Leader, Geddy Lifeson. You can call me Geddy! I'm sorry, but I'll only have time to take you to my home and introduce you to my family. Come along now!"

When he turned around, the Konoha team all sweat-dropped as they saw the horrible view from behind. They also got to see that the shirt was zippered in the back.

"I saw that you were eyeing my uniform, my cute friend." The mayor nudged Sasuke with his elbow. "And I understand how you feel! But don't fret!" Sasuke almost felt like smiling. Yes! They wouldn't have to wear this dreadful outfit-

"You'll all get your own uniforms when you get to my home!"

Sasuke's expression twisted in pain and disgust, and Naruto's looked none better. Sakura was too busy drooling at the thought of Sasuke wearing the uniform, and Kakashi was too busy watching the fascinating mini-skirts.

They were led right to the center of the village. Geddy explained a little about the village.

"My proud village is star-shaped, isn't that great? It's because our symbol is the red star, and what an amazing symbol it is! My wonderful family lives right smack-dab in front of where I work, isn't that so convenient? I work at the Temple of the Syrinx and, if I do say so myself, it is just _fabulicious_ working there! I have such a lovely view of my village!"

And, suddenly, his mood swung violently. His body shook as a torrent of tears fell. He latched onto Sasuke, crying into the poor boy's shoulder. Sasuke was also tortured by the large belly jiggling against him with every quivering sob. Naruto was about to explode into fits of laughter, but he still felt a little bad for his team mate. The little man's sobs sounded like an annoying siren.

"I wish my village was as peaceful as it used to be! You have to help me! You will help me, won't you?" Geddy shook Sasuke into responding. He could only manage a stunned nod and he just kept nodding until it felt like his head would fall off.

"That's what you're paying us for, Lifeson-sama."

Kakashi was nice enough to answer and pry the short man off of Sasuke. Once he was free, Sasuke ran to get away from the crazy man. He would use Naruto as a human shield by moving behind the blonde if Geddy got even a centimeter closer to him. The village leader looked at the two boys with an unreadable twinkle in his eye and a bright smile before stopping suddenly, causing Sasuke to walk right into Naruto. They would have begun fighting if Geddy hadn't given a loud shriek first.

"My darling Naomi, come here! Oh, I missed you!"

The team saw a small group of people walk out of a glass elevator door. The elevator rose up into a star shaped building that glowed pink in the light of the sunset. They first saw a woman in the usual silver uniform, but she had a silver circlet to match the one on the short man. She was beautiful underneath the crazy clothing, but she was strangely colored. Naomi's skin was tinted yellow and her lightly curled hair was a dark blue, and she had eyes that matched her hair. She had a beautiful smile on as she squeezed her short husband happily.

"I missed you, too, dear! Our beautiful boy missed you so much!"

She finally took notice of the team and gave them a winning smile, too.

"It's great to meet you all!" The woman, like her husband had earlier, greeted them in song. Her voice was soft and gentle, matching her appearance perfectly. The team introduced themselves.

"I'm Naomi, Geddy's wife! Let me introduce my son and his little friend!"

Two boys were wrestling on the florescent-green, faux grass. Their outfits were also similar to the adults', but theirs had very short shorts. From what they could make out, one kid was blonde and the other had spiky black hair.

"Boys! Come and greet our guests!"

Immediately, the boys ran up in front of the guests while holding hands. Sasuke and Naruto both audibly gasped. They were looking at their young doppelgangers! These little kids looked almost identical to them!

The blonde boy's hair matched Naruto's strand for strand. His tanned cheeks had the same whisker-like scars as Naruto, but his was slightly wavy. His eyes were the same bright blue as the kitsune's and his grin was as big and dumb as Naruto's usual grin. The little clone stared straight at Naruto with a glitter-covered face and a dazzling smile.

The other boy was giving Sasuke a cold glare with his own dark grey eyes. His hair was almost exactly the same, except for his long bangs could rest on his small chest. The pale child could have passed as Sasuke when he was that age. Sasuke didn't even know how to react to the shock of seeing a small six year-old version of himself.

"My son" Naomi pointed to the mini-Sasuke, "is named Satoshi. Isn't that a beautiful name? And his friend is Nozomu. He's staying with us for the next couple of weeks while his parents are out on a business trip."

Naruto wanted to groan at the unfairness of having to take care of another brat, but the woman's fragile appearance made him not want to upset her. He just kept staring at little his little twin, Nozomu.

"It's nice to meet you!"

The boys sang their greeting. They were caught off guard by their wonderful harmony. Satoshi had a smoother, slightly lower voice, while Nozomu's high voice was like a softly vibrating twitter. It was a strange custom to greet people by singing, they figured, and they hoped that they weren't expected to ever sing.

Sasuke and Naruto glanced over and read each other's expressions. They've become increasingly better at knowing what the other was thinking. Currently, they both were feeling a mixture of surprise and confusion. Naruto knew that's how Sasuke felt because the raven had his left eyebrow and the left side of his mouth raised. Sasuke knew that's how Naruto felt because the blonde had his eyes scrunched to small slits and his head was tilted. They both never imagined running into themselves in this gaudy village. Neither of them knew how they were going to possibly take care of small versions of themselves!

"Well, go on in, my beloved guests! It's almost dinnertime. And, to be honest, you stick out like sore thumbs with those silly clothes on! I must get to work now. Good night, everyone! Toodle-oo!"

He waggled his fingers at the group and made his way towards the gigantic tower in the middle of the village. It looked like a UFO parked on the tip of a cone. The entire building seemed to be made from screens, because some video message was playing on every inch of it. People were gathered around it, staring at the screens mindlessly. They were all swaying side to side and smiling peacefully. They would have looked at the scene longer if they weren't ushered into the glass elevator.

It was too small for seven people. Sasuke's back was crushed against the handlebar on the wall. Naruto had been stupid enough to walk in right after Sasuke. He didn't even have time to turn around before everyone else piled in and shoved the two boys together so close that their chests were plastered together and their breath mingled. They had to breathe shallowly because they couldn't even expand their chests enough to breath. Not to mention, the breathing motion could possibly cause their faces to get closer, and they didn't want to have that happening.

Behind Naruto were Naomi and the two boys. Kakashi and Sakura managed to not be in such awkward positions, but that doesn't mean they were comfortable. Sakura's face was pressed against the glass wall. Kakashi's hair was flattened a bit by the ceiling of the elevator and it was too tight for him to read his book.

The small boys were holding onto each other tightly. They both stared at Sasuke and Naruto in their strange position. Sasuke was the only one who could see them looking at them. He cursed his _horrible_ luck. He wasn't going to be able to get out of this mission without more mental trauma. Naruto was mentally praying that the elevator wouldn't jolt him into Sasuke and make them share another accidental kiss. A quiet _ding_ and a sliding sound indicated that they had reached where they were going to stay for the next two weeks. Naruto heaved a great sigh right into Sasuke's face. He responded by growling, but didn't dare speak for fear of his mouth possibly touching the dolt. When the elevator was clear enough, Sasuke pushed Naruto off of him roughly and gave Naruto a burning glare. Naruto knew that meant Sasuke was extremely embarrassed, and he felt the same way. Both boys still felt the ghosts of each other on their chests.

They walked out into the purest white room they had ever seen, and it gave them both an instant headache. They figured that their headaches were going to stay with them for the entire time they stayed in the crazy Village of the Syrinx.

******************************************

After this shortish chapter, the fun starts, really! And I'm going to try my best to post a chapter every other day about. I already am working on Chapter 7, so I'll try to stay ahead! Also, I will give a vague warning. If you ever think "They're being OOC", stick with the story. Trust me.

And HOLY FUM FUM FUM! As I'm posting this, I've gotten exactly 100 hits on this story...which is amazing to me, really. It's hard to get even one of my friends to read it, yet I've gotten so many visitors! From all over the world, even, I didn't expect that. Now I feel stupid for not knowing another language well enough to read fan fiction in that language -_-;

Cyber popcorn for Lanie12777 *~*~* Thank you for being my first review ever. Cyber popcorn for Kame_Megumi...even though I know you in RL, you still gave me a good review *~*~*. And Cyber popcorn for Koolneko22 *~*~*. And thanks chibigokugirl for the fave, buttered cyber popcorn for you, too *~*~*. I plan on reading fan fictions from all of you ^-^.


	4. How It Is

**Chapter 4: How it is**

"I hope you like your rooms. The two boys will share one room, okay? The handsome man and the young lady will each have a room of their own."

Naomi patted Naruto on the shoulder. She still had that bright grin on her face, and it didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon. Naruto grumbled a little about having to share a room with Sasuke-teme, but he actually wanted it that way. Sasuke's face stayed impassive as they were led to their rooms. He was too busy focusing on the outfits he was going to be forced into.

Their room was the same pure white as the rest of the house. There were two large beds on opposite ends of the room. They were round beds with a white vinyl frame and clean white sheets with a fluffy white comforter. White walls reflected the bright light coming from the star-shaped lights on the high ceiling. On the opposite wall that the door was there was a large window with thick white curtains blocking the view to the outside. Near the windows was a low white table with white pillows to sit on. The floor had pristine white plush carpet that the boys sank into as they stepped into the room. They were glad their room was big enough that they wouldn't get in each other's way. It wasn't an elaborate room and they knew it could have been much, much worse.

The only thing in the room that wasn't white was their "_fantastic_" uniforms.

"Well, we'll let you get dressed, and then we'll have someone come around to lead you to the dining room for dinner. The bed on the right is Sasuke's; the one on the left is Naruto's. Well, Toodle-loo!"

They were left alone with nothing to do but try to put on their dooms. Sasuke was only quick to take off Naruto's shirt and throw it on the blonde's bed. He pinched the uniform shirt between his thumb and index finger like it was something revolting.

"They expect us to wear this?" Naruto growled. "I wish some other team got the crappy mission. I bet Shino would look ridiculous in this. He'd probably feel naked with such little clothing. Rock Lee would probably love its youthfulness."

Sasuke shivered at the picture of Bushy Brows wearing something worse than his usual spandex suit. Holding his breath, he began to put the shirt on. It was difficult to shove his arms through the tight sleeves and once he got it on he felt like he was choking. Naruto was putting his shirt on, too, but his head got stuck in it. He began to thrash around and yell.

"It zippers in the back, dobe."

Sasuke walked over and, being careful to not touch Naruto's skin, he unzipped the back to release Naruto from the grasps of the material. But, before Sasuke walked away, Naruto gave a small attention-getting cough. Sasuke just turned around and raised an eyebrow. Naruto looked up at the ceiling, too embarrassed to look straight at his team mate.

"Can…Can you zip me up?"

Sasuke was silent for a second before replying.

"Only if you do the same for me."

Naruto nodded and turned his back towards Sasuke, who took both sides of the shirt and struggled to get them to come together. Naruto couldn't help but wiggle whenever he felt Sasuke's hand rub against his sensitive back, and getting zipped up was torture as part of Sasuke's hand lightly dragged along his spine. Naruto shivered when Sasuke hit a particularly sensitive area, and Sasuke took notice of it. He felt his face involuntarily flare up, and his thoughts became a long line of curses as Naruto turned to return the favor. Sasuke _hated_ people touching his back; it was the closest thing to a ticklish place that he had. He stood as rigid as he could as Naruto, whose face resembled a tomato, zipped the horrendous shirt up. He wasn't paying very much attention so he accidentally zipped some of Sasuke's hair in the top of the zipper. Sasuke let out a breathy gasp, the sound completely unintentional, and threw his hand at the zipper to free his hair. Naruto, still in a bit of shock from the gasp, let out a quiet apology. The Uchiha turned around and glared at Naruto, his hands curling into fists.

Naruto's hair was even messier and it was sticking out because of static charge. Strands of Sasuke's hair were reaching out and touching Naruto's face until he finally pulled himself away. The boys didn't dare look at each other when they were putting the silver pants and boots on. Sasuke heard Naruto jumping, falling, and cursing as he struggled into the pants. When they were done getting dressed they couldn't help but look at each other in horror.

"You look so gay, Sasuke."

"You look like a male stripper."

"Stop looking at me like that, pervert!"

"There's not much to look at, idiot."

"They should have given you the skirt, you femme."

"I'm not going to wear a skirt for your pleasure, freak."

"Bastard!"

"Usuratonkachi!"

"Dinner!"

Two singing voices interrupted their fight and the two boys looked at their open door.

"Those uniforms look great on you two."

Nozomu complimented the boys, who sweat dropped at the possibility of anyone looking good wearing the red and silver monster.

"We'll lead you to the dining room. Follow us."

Satoshi spoke more formally than his friend and in a more matured voice, even though it was still high like a child normally sounds like. Sasuke and Naruto both struggled to walk in their heels. Naruto would have tripped if Sasuke hadn't reached out to grab him. Sasuke kept his hand on Naruto's shoulder to balance himself, and Naruto tentatively reached across Sasuke's back to rest a hand on his shoulder so he could steady himself, too. They looked like they were best friends in really weird clothing. If it weren't for their circumstances they wouldn't dare be so close to each other, but it was necessary as they were both wobbling. They relied on each other whenever their ankles would twist or give out on them. Nozomu was giggling at them the entire walk to the dining room.

The dining room was, finally, a little bit different. It was still painted gaudy silver, and the floor was sickening neon red, but it didn't give them as much pain to look at. But, to their horror, the table was traditional and metal. Kakashi, whose mask was now silver with a red star over his mouth, and Sakura were already sitting down and dressed in their uniforms. Amused, they just watched the show as the boys tried to figure out how to bend down. They held on to each other tightly as both lowered down onto one knee, and then shakily pulled the other one behind them. When they were finally in a safe position, they ripped their arms away and shot a quick glare at each other before the food was brought out and set in front of them.

Naruto audibly groaned at the sight of the most horrible excuse for food he had ever seen. He wished Ichiraku ramen would fly in and destroy all of the lame food before flying right into his mouth. But the food in front of him was far from ramen. It was tofu shaped into stars.

"Itadakimasu…" the team sullenly said their thanks.

"Itadakimasu!" the rest were more excited for the unexciting meal.

Kakashi was just holding a star in his chopsticks, his one eye examining it curiously, but not eating any of it. Sakura took one and nibbled on it. It wasn't the most horrible thing she ever tasted because it didn't taste like anything at all! Sasuke put on a poker face as he ate a star. The texture was horrible and made it so that he couldn't really bite it; it became slimy mush the instant his teeth even touched it. He forced it down, arguing with his gag reflex. Naruto was shoving it down his throat; he didn't allow himself to taste it. Meanwhile, Naomi and the boys were happily eating and smiling between bites. Sasuke tried to wash it down with the red drink they were given, but he ended up discreetly spitting it back into his cup. It tasted like metallic dirt! He was half tempted to just quit the mission and run back to Konoha as fast as he could. Naruto was considering the exact same thing. Sakura had the guts to ask Naomi what it was made of.

"Our tofu it infused with a blend of all the vitamins and minerals we would ever need. Isn't it wonderful?"

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look that said "I wouldn't eat this even if I was starving to death." Kakashi just politely agreed.

"Well, we're very tired after our trip, so we'll be off to bed now. Thank you very much for the food."

He allowed his team to get up, which once again proved difficult for the two boys. Naruto was the first to stand, getting pushed up by Sasuke, meanwhile Sasuke was still down on one knee. Sakura turned red because of the scene. Blushing slightly, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and helped him up. They automatically latched on to each other for balance. Kakashi wasn't too much better off, but he managed to stand up and begin reading his book until it was plucked out of his hands by Naomi.

"I'm sorry, but that book isn't approved by the Temple, I'm going to have to keep it for the duration of your stay," she added sweetly, "Goodnight!" before making her way out of the dining room. Yawning, Nozomu and Satoshi, hand in hand, walked to their room, leaving the team in the dining room.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all gave Kakashi a glare. He sweat dropped and silently pleaded with his team to forgive him. They just growled before they walked out of the dining room.

"Sakura-chan, how do you stay balanced on these things?" Naruto begged Sakura for advice.

"Don't try going too fast and stay as centered as you can. And try walking one foot in front of the other. Also, don't put any weight on your heels." Sasuke and Naruto both nodded and followed her advice. Once they were able to walk without holding on to each other, they thanked her and walked to their room. Naruto flopped onto his bed.

"This sucks. This more than sucks! This outfit itches and gives me a wedgie!" Naruto complained.

"Look, just shut up and take it off." This earned Sasuke a surprised look from Naruto.

"Idiot! You don't have to sleep in it; that's what I meant!"

Exasperated, Sasuke wrenched his feet out of his boots and pulled the shirt over his head. He grumbled as he held his static-charged hair down. He took sweat pants out of his back pack and put them off after wiggling out of the clinging pants. He felt his body breathe a sigh of relieve. He glanced over at Naruto and growled angrily.

"Are you seriously going to only wear that to sleep?"

Naruto lay on the bed in just his boxers, not bothering to go under the covers yet.

"Yeah, got a problem?" he retorted.

"Loser."

Naruto growled at Sasuke and yelled at him to go to bed before he shut the lights off. He grumbled as he whipped the comforter over and back over him. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto, though he couldn't see him anymore, and got into his own bed. Both boys fell asleep angrily; unaware of what awaits them when they are woken up.

Muhaha, because I really love the next chapter so much and I've gotten over 100 visitors, it's a two-fer today! I'm just floored by how nice people have been! Cyber-Popcorn for the world! *~*~*~*!


	5. Test For Echo

**Chapter 5:Test For Echo**

"**LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOOOOR!"**

"AAAAAAHH! OH-URGH, GAH! Ngh….oh! Sasuke!"

Naruto flailed, tangled in the sheets, and fell off the bed. Something heavy landed on top of him, knocking the air out of him. He could barely hear Sasuke cursing on top of him. Yelping, Naruto tried to desperately kick the tangled blankets off of them. His knee rammed up; Sasuke's horribly pained face flew in front of Naruto as he screamed in agony. Naruto gave his own scream in shock. Sasuke was GLOWING PINK! He looked down at his own skin and saw that he was glowing purple!

They heard the ear-splitting music all around them. Their ears were close to bleeding by the time they finally freed themselves from the blankets. Sasuke groped the walls, trying to find a light switch, and when he found it, it wouldn't work. The only thing he could see was the glowing Naruto. They were both looking around desperately for the sources of the heavy metal music. Naruto was constantly making annoyed sounds and Sasuke was growling ferociously. Sasuke felt out his bed and tried searching under it. He pulled out an alarm clock with red numbers glaring the time, which was three in the morning, and blaring music. He tried to feel out the buttons to turn it off, but all of the buttons seemed glued down. In frustration, he threw the alarm clock against the wall; consequently, the music stopped. They heaved a sigh of-

"**GIVE HIM BACK HIS SWEATER!"**

The boys both screamed in anger before they stumbled around, bumping into furniture that hadn't been there before, searching for more of these annoying alarm clocks. Sasuke, who had come to more of his senses first, growled in Naruto's ear.

"Who the HELL did this!"

It took them two hours to find each of the thirty blaring alarm clocks. Naruto stomped towards the door, dodging all the furniture he now knew was there, and twisted the doorknob. He ran head first into the door that hadn't opened. Sasuke sighed when he heard his usuratonkachi curse. Naruto kept trying to open the door, but something was blocking it on the other side, and Naruto said so to Sasuke.

"Well, we'll just wait in here until someone lets us out."

"How can you be so calm, asshole? Some jerk managed to come in here, put furniture in our room, paint us with glowing crap, plant heavy metal alarms around, and get us sleeping in the same bed. Worst part, WE DIDN'T NOTICE A DAMN THING! What kind of ninja are we?"

Naruto was livid and Sasuke was close punching a hole in the wall. They just stood there in their anger before their exhaustion hit them.

"Uh, Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"Did I…uh… did I hit your…uh…stuff earlier?"

"My st….oh!" Sasuke was still sore in that particular spot. He said a quick, "Yeah." Naruto groaned, knowing how much strength he put into that knee ram.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry…" he tried to lighten the mood a little, the anger was getting a bit stuffy. " I guess you're gonna have problems restoring your clan now!" Sasuke scoffed.

"Did you think that's what I said? I said that I would restore my clan _to its former glory._"

Naruto face-palmed when he realized that it was so obvious that Sasuke wasn't going to be bent on making Uchiha babies and training them all to be mini-Sasukes.

"I never really thought of kids that much, since I still am one, but I think I wouldn't absolutely have to have one of my own. In fact, there're so many orphans out there to adopt. Orphans like me…like us."

Sasuke felt a little pang of hurt. He knew full well that he was an orphan, but that didn't make it hurt any less to hear it spelled out. He gave himself another quick vow to kill his brother before he answered Naruto.

"There are a hundreds of kids who are orphaned because of wars. It almost seems more appropriate for you to adopt than have your own children. I mean, I'd die if there was little usuratonkachis running around."

"I want to adopt two brothers." Naruto said with conviction.

"Sounds like a plan, dobe."

"Sasuke-teme, I didn't even say anything stupid! Why the heck are you calling me a dobe?"

"You get riled up easily by it." Sasuke shrugged. "I would call you usuratonkachi even if you were as smart as me."

"D'ya think, maybe, that it's kind of like our…nicknames? Teme and dobe?"

"I think of it this way. It's the exact opposite of a pet name."

"Pet name? What's that?"

"Do you not know anything? A pet name is a weird nick name people give to the people they like, like 'baby'." Sasuke gagged a little at saying the fluffy word.

"So, it's like, dobe is your abused-pet name for me?" Naruto tried to follow Sasuke's logic.

"It's just a reminder that we're rivals, even if we are talking about something like having kids or adopting, or in any other weird situation like that. I have to call you an idiot about a million more times to make up for that…classroom accident."

Naruto cringed at the memory of their accidental kiss, and he nervously laughed a little.

"We must have a lot of awkward moments then. You call me an idiot in every sentence."

"To me, it's awkward to even be talking to someone. I might hate you the most, but I also talk to you the most."

"Why?"

Sasuke growled softly in light frustration, "Because, you annoy me to death and won't stop talking, so I have to talk to shut you up."

Naruto understood this reasoning well enough. And even though his rival said that, it didn't make sense with what he was currently doing. Sasuke was talking to him calmly about something that he wouldn't bother sharing with anyone; they were talking about their futures.

"Sasuke?"

"You can stop saying my name! There's no one else in here, so if you start talking, I'll know it's directed at me."

"Fine, teme. I wanted to ask you what you were going to do after you get your revenge. I mean, I'm going to be Hokage, what are you planning on doing?"

"I haven't thought of it, nor do I care. I don't seem to have much of a future. As long as Itachi's dead, I don't care what I'm doing."

"You need a plan for your future!"

"Why?" Sasuke sat on his bed and glared at the glowing, purple figure. "Itachi might kill me, or I might die from exhaustion from the fight with him!"

"That's not possible." Naruto sat down and crossed his legs on the floor in front of Sasuke.

"Hn? It's completely possible, and I won't delude myself otherwise."

"It's not possible!" Naruto repeated with more heat.

"Why!"

"Because you are Uchiha Sasuke! Your dream-no! Your '_ambition' _is to avenge your family by killing Itachi! And if that's what you work towards then you're going to do it! I have no doubt. You'll do it no matter what. And…I would never allow you to be beaten by anybody but me, your rival!"

Sasuke was glad it was dark, because he didn't want Naruto to see the shocked expression on his face. His mind was whirling with the words and feelings that Naruto had just expressed to him. Sasuke muttered Naruto's name under his breath in a tone that he never used before. The blonde was too obliviously ranting to hear it.

"And, since you are my rival, it is only makes sense that you'd be something that's just about equally important."

"What could possibly be equal to being the Hokage?"

"You would be my assistant, advisor, that person who makes sure I do paperwork even though I would be bored to tears. You'd be my personal guard, even though I wouldn't need your help because I'd be the Hokage!"

"You do realize that we'd end up spending most of our time together, right?"

"So? At least I'd never be bored."

"Would I be able to fight and insult you like normal or do I have to be an ass-kisser?"

Naruto made an audible disgusted gag to indicate how horrible that would be, and also what a bad picture that put in his head.

"No way! Even if there is some law that you're not allowed to fight the Hokage with your full strength, I would change the law in a heartbeat. It would be the first thing I do as Hokage!"

Sasuke shook his head gently at his stupid team mate. "Fine, then being your assistant wouldn't be that horrible. And you would need to make it clear that I don't work under you. If we're rivals, we have to be equal at least."

Naruto gave a big grin even though Sasuke couldn't possibly see it. All he would see is a large grin-shaped black hole below two wide black eye-shaped holes.

"How about I give you a chair next to mine at my desk?"

"That would get the point across to others. But do you also realize that means for the long hours that we'd be working together, we'd be right next to each other?"

Naruto sighed at how difficult Sasuke was making it. "If I fall asleep while you're right next to me, it'll be easy for you to wake me up, okay? And I don't want to call you out from your office every time I don't exactly know what a word means."

"You need me to be your brains, don't you? Maybe I should become Hokage."

"If you beat me in a serious fight then I'd back down and let you become Hokage. Yeah! We'll have a huge Hokage-level fight where all of Konoha would be watching us tear each other apart, and whoever wins becomes the Hokage!" Naruto became extremely excited by the great plan for the future.

Sasuke was silently mulling over how great it would be to be able to have his revenge on his brother and then have the most epic fight to define all rivalry battles. He saw a glowing hand reach out to him.

"So we have a deal? You have your revenge then fight me to see who becomes the Hokage. If I win, you become my assistant. What if you win?"

"I'll let you choose to either become my assistant or you raise your adopted children in the best home I can give you." Sasuke was feeling generous.

"Oh, and speaking of that, I want you to promise something else."

"Hn?"

"If we get married, we have to be-"

"WHAT!" Sasuke yelled in shock.

"What? What! Wait! No! No, no, nuh-uh, not what I was saying! I was going to say that we be each other's best men if we get married."

"Don't say 'if we get married'!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Damn it! If you marry some girl, make me your best man. I'll do the same. That's what I meant."

"Okay, okay. Sure. I'll agree to that, seeing as you don't have any other friends. You annoyed all the others to death." At this, Naruto became eerily silent.

"You said 'other friends'. Does that mean…?"

"Shut up, idiot. I'm tired enough to actually think that we're the kind of rivals that can turn the rivalry off sometimes, like now. I'm just tired!" Naruto just snickered at the flustered Uchiha.

"Just shake my hand, teme." He waved his hand a little bit.

"Fine, usuratonkachi." Sasuke reached out his own pink hand to meet the purple one, but the purple one jerked away. "What?"

Naruto grumbled something about "equal ground" before scrambling up to sit on the bed next to Sasuke. He offered his hand again and, after sighing, the Uchiha took it. After shaking it once, Sasuke's hand unconsciously held Naruto's tighter. Naruto returned the gesture, thinking it was a challenge, and they continued until it felt like they were going to break each other's hands. And, just to have something to fight about, they began arm wrestling. After losing to Sasuke five times in a row, he tackled him in frustration. Sasuke fought back instantly, flipping them over and pinning Naruto's arm behind his back with a knee. Naruto managed to push himself backwards against Sasuke enough to get them to roll back; Sasuke kept a hold on Naruto's arm. Naruto was sitting right between Sasuke's legs and had his back pressed against Sasuke's glowing chest. To prevent Sasuke from pushing him off, he hooked his legs around Sasuke's. The raven was none too pleased with the feeling of his bare chest against Naruto's naked back, nor did he enjoy the fact that Naruto was still only wearing his boxers. He especially didn't like the fact that Naruto's hand was struggling and grasping at anything nearby, which happened to be the waistband of Sasuke's pants. Sasuke let go of Naruto's arm to prevent anything else; he hissed slightly when Naruto's arm rubbed against his stomach.

"Idiot, you need to wear more clothing if you're going to wrestle with me. This is…too dangerous."

Naruto shivered once he became self-aware and his body heated up in embarrassment. Sasuke's face was burning, too, but it was nothing compared to Naruto's body heat. Naruto hurriedly unwrapped their legs and sat up, finally taking notice of where he exactly he was sitting. Sasuke instantly moved back and crossed his legs, making no contact with the blonde. Now the only thing he could see was Naruto's back with a slightly smeared glowing imprint of his chest. He had a purple imprint of Naruto's back on his stomach.

"You got your purple in my pink…"

"WHAT!"

Naruto turned around and saw what Sasuke meant. Naruto could see clearly every part of Sasuke that he touched. He blushed at the amount of purple Sasuke had around his crotch and legs.

"We're the only idiots who would wrestle while covered in glowing paint."

Naruto rubbed at the pink paint on his wrist.

"Well, I guess it made it interesting."

Sasuke mumbled, trying to scratch the paint off.

"It's almost 6:00 already!"

Naruto exclaimed, the light filtering through the curtains dulled the glowing paint and made the room more clear.

"Good. We're almost through this particular section of Hell."

Sasuke said bitterly, his ears still ringing from their rude awakening and groin still stinging from Naruto's brand of good morning fun. He didn't know that this section of Hell was the easy one!________________________________________________________________________________

Lolz *facepalms* I actually had 2 chapter 5's....so...I'm actually working on my 8th chapter....I'm so lame.

Remember what I told you earlier? Yeah, everything in my story happens for a reason, stick with it, please...but I love this chapter, honestly *I personally love the NEXT chapter even more*! I have done the IMPOSSIBLE, I made a chapter be humorous and fluffy. MUHAHAHA HAHA HA- Wait...what did you say? You didn't like it? BAH! (%|33|2 p0p(0|2/V L4iZ0r (read: Cyber Popcorn Laser)!! (|*~*~*~*~*~


	6. Open Secrets

This chapter is a little fluffy, and sorry for not updating for a while. I've decided that this story will have about 13 chapters, and I'm going to get them all done in one weekend *next weekend* so, thanks for reading and sorry about any mistakes. This may seem a little fluffy!

**Chapter 6: Open Secrets**

"Good morning!" two voices sang sweetly. In response, Naruto growled and Sasuke snarled menacingly. Naruto opened his mouth wide to begin the first round of his punishment, which was verbal. Then it would be time to kick some clone ass!

"Do you two need to take showers? Follow us!" the blushing blond boy skipped out of the room. Satoshi followed after beckoning the ninjas to follow them with a wave of one of his small hands.

Naruto sputtered in protest, but his legs moved to follow the boys. Sasuke had an equally confused expression as he began trailing behind the children. He scratched at the cracking paint on his stomach but only small flakes were actually removed by his nail. Naruto was similarly preoccupied with a particularly itchy patch of paint on the back of his hand.

They stopped in front of a white, steel door in a hallway of identical white, steel doors. Naruto glared at the boys suspiciously, crossing his arms and taking a step away from the door. The boys unlocked the door and smiled sweetly.

"Here's the best shower room in this entire village! We'll come back for you to take you down to breakfast." Satoshi ushered the boys in. Naruto was bending backwards over, his upper body pushing against the boys and Sasuke struggled at first before he found himself walking into a dark room.

"Now, it's a rule here that you have to be completely clean to be at the breakfast table. Good hygiene is great!" Nozomu shut the door on the boys, blinding them. They could once again see each other glowing brightly like Care Bear light houses.

Naruto banged incessantly on the locked metal door, denting it in the process. But it was impossible, Naruto finally realized, to get out. Though he stopped beating the door, he continued yelling curses.

Sasuke yelled at him to shut up, and then searched for a light switch by groping the walls. _Aha…_

"**I'M A BARBIE GIRL!"**

A pink disco ball descended and rotated, flashing rainbows of color on the walls. They stared in horror at the mirrors that covered every inch of the walls and the ceilings like a fun house. Pink smoke curled around their feet.

Sasuke let out a groan when he saw the shower heads that were shaped like smiling flowers. _Flower showers? Oh shoot me now… _Sasuke sensed movement and turned around, but realized it was only Naruto.

Sliding sideways, not able to look away from the horrible light show, Naruto opened a flat door that would look like the rest of the wall if it didn't have a metal door knob. It led to a toilet room, but something was wrong with the toilet. The water was replaced with red Jell-O. Naruto, eyebrows trying to crawl into his hair, tentatively reached out a hand, gulping, and flushed the toilet.

A pink bubble monster ran out of the room that Naruto had just disappeared into. The monster had a loud, high-pitched scream. Pink bubbles floated out of the toilet room and danced around the horrifying room. They were in a bubbly hell.

Naruto, shaking off his pink bubble monster appearance off, stomped on the lime-green tiled floor.

"I want out! I want to get out of this VILLAGE OF THE PSYCHOS!"

"Calm down" Sasuke said to both of them, "We won't be here forever. This will be just a horrible memory in a couple weeks." Naruto, his face contorted around his teary eyes.

"Now, you heard them…" he shakily muttered. Naruto nodded and began to pull his boxers off.

"N-No! Keep those on!" Sasuke looked away white Naruto, wide-eyed, quickly put his boxers back on, shaking his head. _What the hell was I thinking?! _Naruto blushed furiously while Sasuke shed his sweat pants. Sasuke's black boxers were only a couple inches longer than briefs and only slightly less tight. An inch-wide Uchiha fan was emblazoned on the right leg of the boxers.

"Somehow, I kind-of knew they would look like that." Naruto commented quietly. He received a strong punch in the gut before they trapped each other in another glaring contest. With a light click, the disco ball turned into a strobe light. Despite the change of lighting, the boys' eye contact didn't break.

"Usuratonkachi!"

"**SHUT UP**-!"

"-**AND SLEEP WITH ME!"**

Their eyes both widened and their faces flushed. The now-blessed strobe light prevented them from seeing each other blush. Sasuke backed away from Naruto like the blond had just turned into an 80-year old drag queen. It took all of his Uchiha power to return his face to its usual, expressionless face. Without another word, the raven sat down on one of the translucent-pink shower benches. He turned on the shower and allowed himself to be soaked by the shower. The flower head stared down at him, smiling at him as he mockingly puked out the steady stream of water. Sasuke stopped himself from glaring. In the mirror, he saw Naruto also sitting down and turning his shower on. Naruto glanced up and their eyes met. Naruto lightly gasped and looked away.

"Don't look at me, it's creepy."

"This entire room is creepy. You're the only non-creepy thing to look at." Sasuke took the shower head down and shot water down his back. The water had a strange scent that Sasuke couldn't recognize.

"Just look at yourself, then!" Naruto huffed, though he understood what Sasuke was saying.

"I'd rather not." He answered solemnly.

"Why not? Is all of that pale skin blinding you?"

"No, but seeing myself in nothing but this…well, it makes me notice that we are, right now, in a shower together that has mirrors for walls and a pink disco ball. Also, our showers are smiling flowers and there are pink bubbles floating around. And I'd rather just focus on you."

"But…I'm only in my boxers…" Naruto muttered quietly as he crossed his legs and squirmed.

"I've seen them plenty of times, Naruto. You've been in just your boxers in front of Sakura before."

"Yeah, but she refuses to look at me, so that doesn't really matter!" he protested, his voice rising.

"That really bothers you, doesn't it?" Sasuke asked casually as he began washing his hair with shampoo that smelled like bubble gum.

"What does?"

"Sakura doesn't give you any attention, but you like her. She's too busy obsessing over me."

"She's not obsessive!"

"Dobe," Sasuke's tone suggested 'duh, of course she is.'

"Ugh. Fine. Yes, of course it bothers me! You're an asshole, she deserves better than you!"

"Why do you like her?" Sasuke inquired, finding the bubbles particularly fascinating; he refused to look at anything other than them.

"I like her because…well she's….cute! And smart!"

"Is that all?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I like her, does it matter why?" Naruto growled in frustration.

"Naruto, if looks and intelligence is all you care about, then you can't really say that you particularly like Sakura."

"What are you talking about!?" Naruto was getting tired of this stupid conversation.

"For example, Naruto, pretend that I'm a girl-"

"Ew! Why the hell would I do that?"

"Idiot. I got the absolute top grades at the Academy. And, though ninjas have no use for them, I've been told that I'm attractive." The last word dripped with the disgust Sasuke had for such a useless description of himself. "Considering this, you would like me more than Sakura."

"But you're a bastard!"

"And Sakura punches you whenever you do anything perverted, nags you constantly, and can't stand how stupid you are. Doesn't that make her a bitch?"

"What are you getting at, bastard!?"

"You can't like someone for shallow reasons, Naruto. You might like her looks and intelligence, but that doesn't mean you love her. Don't you know that it's supposed to be a lot deeper than that?"

"No…I didn't…" A silence followed this honest statement, during which the boys continued to clean themselves. Naruto broke it within five minutes, hating the silence.

"Sasuke…?" Naruto began tentatively.

"Hn?"

"How…how do you know if you're in love with someone?" Naruto was blushing. _Why did I just ask Sasuke something like that! Like that cold-hearted bastard knows anyway!_

"It's really hard to tell, and love can come in many forms. Like the love you have for friends, siblings, or family. It's tricky to tell if the feelings you have for someone are actually love. And also, there's lust and hormones that can cloud your judgment." Sasuke was talking as logically as he could, but his heart took over.

"Ugh! How can anybody tell if they really love someone, then?"

"There's no sure way of telling, Naruto. It's one of those complicated things in life that no one has figured out and there's no way to figure it out!"

"How is the person you love supposed to make you feel? Maybe if I knew that, I'd be able to match my feelings with how I feel around Sakura."

"The person you love is the person who can control your emotions. It's the person who can make you go from laughing hysterically, to crying, to fuming with anger with just a few actions or words. They make you the happiest you've ever been in your entire life. If they were taken away, it would be like ripping away half of your body. You'd risk your own life to protect them. All you want is their happiness, because if they're happy, you're happy. Basically, the person you love is your most important person, someone that you wouldn't be able to live without. The one you love is," Sasuke sighed "the person who can hurt you the most."

Naruto gulped, taking in Sasuke's speech. He floundered before he found another question to ask.

"How do…how do you know that they love you back?"

"They would have to realize the power they have over you and the power you have over them. They have to know that they can hurt you."

"Why?" Naruto tried to follow desperately.

"They have to know…and refuse to do so. Because if you hurt the one you love, it's like hurting yourself. That's the kind of connection you're supposed to feel."

"What if they do hurt you? Does that mean they never really loved you?"

"I don't think so. People hurt each other often in relationships. You have to know why they hurt you and if it was intentional. And they might be going through a really hard time, too, and you're supposed to be supportive of the person you love."

"Sasuke…how do you know all this?" Naruto asked, slightly embarrassed. "Did you…love some girl?"

"No, never. I've never loved anybody…but my family."

Naruto turned around in his bench to face Sasuke's back.

"Then how do you know what it's like to be in love?" Naruto challenged.

"I asked my mother a long time ago. What I just said…was exactly what she told me."

Sasuke's back was slightly shaking. This hit a chord deep in Naruto. Thoughts of the looks that the villagers gave him filled his mind. He would've done anything to have someone be there for him when he wanted to cry. Next thing he heard was a shocked gasp by his ear. Sasuke stiffened in Naruto's arms that had him in an embrace from behind. Naruto had acted purely on instinct, but he decided it was the right thing to do when he felt Sasuke relax and gently press back.

_Dobe…You…thank you…_

"I would have liked to meet your mother. She sounds like a great woman."

"She would have liked you, I think. She was always laughing."

"Sasuke…I don't ever pity people or myself." Naruto muttered. "But, I'm really sorry for your loss. I hope they're happy, where ever they are." Sasuke closed his eyes, fighting tears that sprung to his eyes.

"I'm sorry about how the villagers treat you… and I'm sorry that you had to grow up without knowing your parents." Sasuke managed to say this without sounding like he was going to cry. He didn't know why he was so emotional, but he couldn't hold back his sadness.

"I just hope my parents were as cool as yours." Naruto's voice was shaking, his own tears mixing with the shower water that splashed them.

"Well…to make you they would have to have been-"

"Teme!"

"-great people."

Naruto gasped. Silence took over them again. But this time, they didn't need words to understand each other.


	7. Armor and Sword

**Chapter 7: Armor and Sword**

**Author notes: **

"This is speech"

_This is thought controlled more by the mind_

_This thought is controlled more by the heart_

They parted after a few minutes of embracing. Naruto had been brought to his senses by a harsh stinging on his scalp. He grabbed Sasuke's showerhead and doused the fiery pain with the spray. He opened his eyes and turned to Sasuke to explain himself. The onyx-haired boy was now staring at another onyx-haired boy.

"Naruto!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about-"

Sasuke interuptted, "Your hair! You have black hair!"

Sasuke was trying to compose himself, but his emotions persisted. Naruto looked at the blue-eyed boy staring back at him in the mirror and cringed when he realized it was him. His hair had been dyed the exact same shade of blue-black as Sasuke's hair. It didn't look bad, but he knew that blond was more his style.

"How did this happen?"

"I think they slipped dye in your shampoo." Sasuke deduced.

"Those prissy brats are gonna pay!"

"We can probably wash it out with a clarifier." He answered as he began to get redressed in his uniform. A grumbling Naruto followed suit. They had just squeezed their red boots on when the door opened with a loud click.

"It's time for breakfast. You have some work to do today."

It was Naomi who had opened the door, which made the boys wonder where the little pranksters were.

"Oh, I see you've changed your hair to match your friend's, Naruto-kun. Isn't that adorable?" she cooed at the scowling boys.

Naruto's stomach growled. He could almost smell the delicious scent of miso ramen, but he knew that it wasn't going to be on the breakfast menu. So instead, the trio walked down to the breakfast room for a horrible meal of the bland tofu. They were greeted by their team mates, Nozomu, and Satoshi. Sakura shrieked when she noticed Naruto's color change.

"Naruto! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Didn't you know, Sakura? I've always dreamed of having the same hair color as the perfect-in-every-way Sasuke-kun!" He spat sarcastically, none too happy about his situation. Sakura scoffed in indignation and turned to Sasuke.

"What really happened?"

"I think there was dye in the shampoo Naruto used." He explained quickly, sitting down across from Kakashi, who had been looking at the boys with curiosity. Naomi sat at the end of the table with the two clone boys flanking her. There was an open spot next to Sakura, but there was also another next to Sasuke.

Naruto realized that his gut instinct was to sit next to his dark team mate instead of his long-time crush. He tried knocking some sense into himself. Why shouldn't he want to sit next to the cute girl who he's had his eye on? Isn't she the picture of perfection? _Since when? She's not really good company, to tell the truth. And really, I'm afraid of her. Everything she says makes me feel stupid. She's cute and all but…when am I going to grow up? At least Sasuke can have a conversation with me on equal ground, even if we're arguing. And if looks were all that mattered, Sasuke would win by a landslide, no doubt about that. He makes me feel so…accepted. Wait! What am I thinking about! Why the hell am I comparing Sakura to Sasuke like this?_

Once he made it through this thought process, he finally decided to settle down next to Sasuke. Kakashi made a very quiet, knowing sound, nodding slightly. Sakura was more confused than ever. _Didn't he have a crush on me?_ She raked her mind for a plausible answer. _Maybe he's playing hard-to-get. Yeah…that's it. But…why is Sasuke…blushing?!?_

He wasn't completely aware of the very slight pink on his cheeks, but he was fully aware of the importance of the choice that Naruto made. _Naruto doesn't like Sakura anymore? Since when? He liked her just a little while ago! Was it something I said? _Sasuke refused to go any further with his thoughts.

Naruto took a bite of a tofu star and forced it down. He sniffed the tofu, but he caught a whiff of a much more appetizing smell. It was coming from Sasuke's direction. Scooting closer to him, he discreetly smelled Sasuke. Sakura wasn't happy at all with Naruto's closeness to her crush. Naruto was now turning his head in Sasuke's direction and smiling often. Sakura seethed with anger, making audible growls whenever Naruto dared to smile at her Sasuke.

After being smiled at by Naruto for the fifth time, Sasuke finally turned and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why are you smiling at me, dobe?" he questioned, his patience wearing thin.

"You smell so good!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, making Sasuke's cheeks blush brighter. He chose not to say anymore. Sakura decided that his silence meant that she should start nagging about personal space, but Naruto had her completely tuned out. She was just beginning to simmer down when Naruto did the unthinkable; he licked Sasuke's jaw. Sasuke's had flew up to touch the trail of saliva he left on his heated face. Sakura screeched like Naruto had just stabbed Sasuke. Kakashi's gaze laid on Naomi's smiling face.

"You taste like it, too!" Naruto's face brightened with excitement.

"Like what!?" Sasuke growled, refusing to look at the idiot who dared to lick him.

"Ramen! Miso ramen!" Naruto, in an attempt to get closer, sat on Sasuke's lap and buried his head in the crook of Sasuke's neck.

"Oh, what a delightful relationship these two boys have!" Naomi giggled, exchanging happy glances with the small boys.

Sasuke's flushed neck was being tickled by soft lips. His ears rung with the sound of the boy's happy giggles. Though it was only a passing thought, he wondered how he managed to smell like ramen. The idiot was snuggling him, that's all that mattered. The only sounds he could make were surprised chokes and gasps; he had no idea what to say to fix the situation. He could feel his blood pounding in his face and his spine was a tingling mess. Something smooth and wet flicked against a pulsing vein, and then everything went black for Sasuke.

Or at least, he thought he fainted.

"Who turned off the lights?" Sakura's panicky voice permeated the silent darkness.

"I sense chakra. Boys, get off each other, it's time for work. You can resume your snuggling later." While speaking, Kakashi easily sensed his students and gave them their weapon holsters, preparing them for battle.

Silvery liquid silently seeped through the cracks in the door. The door appeared as though it was melting and reaching towards the ninja. Kakashi guarded the mayor's family with his body before revealing his Sharingan. As he suspected, the fluid had chakra, but it wasn't just one type of chakra he sensed.

Sasuke staggered back when his boots were touched by the shining fluid. He lost the balance that was already difficult to maintain and fell into Naruto's arms. Their eyes read the expressions on each other's reddened faces.

_Don't think like that right now; __Why am I thinking like this? __Don't be distracted; Why am __I this distracted by him__! We might be facing an enemy, focus; __Why is that so hard to do while he's touching me__! Stop thinking about him; __It's easier thought than done__! Why are you thinking about him; __His touch…_

Sasuke's and Naruto's minds were shouting the same things. Sasuke righted himself and pushed himself away from Naruto more tenderly than he intended. Naruto's hands slid down Sasuke's arms until they reached pale hands.

_This is not the time for that! _

And with that final thought, Sasuke turned away from the blond in time to see the change in the approaching substance. It appeared as though it was rolling over itself and building upwards. The waves of silver focused at five points and built from there. Instead of waiting patiently for whatever these things were to form, Naruto whipped a kunai out from his holster and shot the gleaming weapon at the nearest silvery form. His kunai was absorbed soundlessly. With an ear-splitting _clink, _the kunai plunged through the violently rippling surface and ripped through the air, aimed right back at Naruto. He froze; he hadn't expected this at all!

_An instant counter-attack?!_

Sasuke unsheathed a kunai and deflected the counterattack in one flashing movement. Naruto growled and pulled out another kunai just to re-equip himself.

"Did I ask you to protect me, you prick? Why did you have to do that?!"

"You would have been hurt otherwise, usuratonkachi." _I did it because I need…I wouldn't be able to…Naruto…I…_

"WHASSUP, WHASSUP,WHASSUP, MY HOMIE-G NINJAS!" a booming voice roared out from the center of the forms. Kakashi wasted no time; he was behind the intruder and pressed a kunai against the dark-skinned throat. Sakura gasped as she got a good look at the five people clad in the brightest clothing she had ever seen.

The man that Kakashi was standing behind was of normal height, but his afro was ridiculously gigantic and had what looked like an antennae coming out of the top with a large smiley face attached to the top. He had on neon, green glasses with rose-tinted lenses. His shirt was cut down low enough to expose a field of curly chest hair. It was made of Day-Glo orange polyester with rhinestones spattered all over it. He wore over it a sickening jacket made of pink, glittering feathers. His bell-bottom pants were zebra print, but instead of black and white, they were a screaming violet and an offensive sky blue. Most of his foot-tall platform boots were hidden mercifully, for they looked like a penguin on acid painted tie-dye on them without a care for what colors look good together, and then puked up rhinestones to add to the horror. And to put the icing on the cake, he had a large prism on the end of a silver chain that refracted any light into rainbows around the room.

His friends didn't look much better. To his left he had a pale friend that was constantly jumping and cracking his neck and knuckles. He was chuckling constantly, and he would fake a lunge towards the ninja any time they looked at him. The jumping caused his extremely baggy jeans to fall further down, but it was covered by a long, white undershirt that was just as pale as his skin. He was already gleaming with sweat, so he was constantly wiping his face. His shoes looked three sizes too big for him and its tongue could have been made into a child's shoe.

A very fat man with extremely dark skin was swaying silently to a tune that no one else could hear. His Rasta hat covered the top of his head and sunk down past his eyes. Dreadlocks with wooden beads slipped on them reached far down the man's back. His large body was covered in a red, yellow, and green poncho. The rest of his clothes were tame and black and his pudgy feet were slipped into hemp sandals. He didn't look like much of a fighter, but neither did Konoha's Chouji.

Another enemy had caramel skin and a shaved head. His gold jacket was puffy, so his appearance was that of a golden marshmallow. He wore baggy black pants with a gold dragon decal, and they were tucked into gold sneakers that were similar to his jumpy friend's shoes. He did nothing but glare at Kakashi, who had jumped right in front of him.

And finally, there was a 6' 11" giant with ivory skin stretched over rippling muscles. He had on a long white jacket with the front opened to expose his inhumane abs and pectorals. His straight, white hair almost brushed the floor. He had two tall bangs that spiked all the way down to his waist. His eyes glittered silver, his nose pointed attractively, and his jaw was chiseled in the same way as Sasuke's.

"We're here to represent!" The leader struck a disco pose and melted into a pool of silver that quickly slid between Kakashi's legs and reformed.

"A to the E to the R to the O-S-K-Y! We are Aerosky, comin' atcha from the Village of the oh-oh-oh SYRINX! Aerosky, we gonna make you fly!"

The general thought among the Konoha ninja was_ why do we always have to fight the freaks? _


	8. Closer to the Heart

**Chapter 8: Closer to the Heart**

"I'm Ukion, ya hear? This is my crew! Karakkan?" The bouncing man shouted, "Yeah, boy!"

"My bro, Jay." The big man replied, "Yeah mon."

"Our golden boy here, Eric." The gold-clad man clapped once loudly and hollered, "Holla!"

"This is the newbie, right? What'cha name again?"

The pale man nodded slightly and closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm not sure." He said quietly. Though it was distinctly masculine, his voice had a refined air to it.

"Eh, whatever. We'll call ya Zero." And in reply, Zero nodded.

"Answer me; What are you doing here?" Kakashi's Sharingan revealed that their ability was a Kekkei Genkai.

"Nah, not yet, crazy-eye brotha. We just came to tell you that we're planning a gang fight at noon! It's Aerosky verses sissy Dragonskin, but the Konoha gang is invited to get jiggy. What do ya say? We gotta establish who's top dog 'round here!" the entire gang howled like a pack of crazed canines.

Kakashi was immensely baffled, but he needed the data on the other gang. It seemed like an obvious trap, but they only had two weeks to get this mission done.

"Where is it?" Kakashi demanded to know, but he had less conviction in his voice.

"Right outside the Temple, no way you can miss it. See you there, Konoha!" They returned to their liquid state and seeped back through the door. The instant they were gone, Sakura went ballistic on her sensei.

"What are you THINKING? That's OBVIOUSLY a trap! And they look ridiculous! Kakashi-sensei, that's IT! I WANT TO GO HOME, NOW!" she stomped her foot, embedding the stiletto into the floor. She struggled and fell face first into the tofu plate. Slowly, she pulled back, her face covered in shock and bland food.

Sasuke couldn't contain himself, which is very much unlike him. He covered his mouth with his hand and started laughing as quietly as he could, and his shoulders shook violently. Naruto was also chuckling, but he didn't hide it as well. Sakura glared at both of them, and then shoved a fistful of tofu into both of their faces. It was Kakashi's turn to laugh loudly, and everyone joined in. Once their laughter died down and the tofu cleaned up, Sakura spoke up.

"Ugh! My back hurts so much!" she complained, rubbing her lower back. _Damn period cramps! Why did this have to happen during a mission?_

Naruto stretched his hands up in the air, stretching his back. "My back hurts, too." He complained.

"Maybe it's the beds." Sasuke chipped in, not doing anything to soothe the throb he felt in his back.

Kakashi checked the time and informed his team that it was noon. They grabbed all their weapons; they were happy to be armed again. They had fought with Naomi for a while about it, but they weren't allowed to wear their normal outfits. Exiting the building had been less cramped than it was the first time, each person occupying their own corner. When they stepped out of the glass elevator, they were sucked into the mass of howling villagers that surrounded the already-present Dragonskin and Aerosky. They pushed their way through and came out into the clearing with the two gangs. A deathly pale woman with ebony hair caught the attention of the ninja by waving a finely manicured hand.

"Welcome, Konoha. We have yet to meet. I am Dimitra of Dragonskin. Let me introduce my gang. This is my cousin, Sammy Says." The woman gestured towards a woman with large, light blue pigtails and darting orange eyes. The second she heard her name, she dropped to the ground and started dancing the worm. No one thought this was strange other than Konoha, which made everyone else seem ten times weirder.

"And this is Naru." Dimitra patted a purple-haired girl who must not have been more than five feet tall, but she had prominent breasts. Her extremely large, blue eyes glared at Team 7.

"This handsome, young man is Aero." Aero was a 17-year-old lance specialist, and he was carrying one that was taller than himself. His shoulder-length hair was pure white, but the bangs that covered the right side of his face were a silvery blue. His purple eyes challengingly stared into Sasuke's. Sasuke only raised a brow in response.

"And this is his little sister, Jinxi." Obviously the youngest, a girl with very long, pink hair was bouncing around at her brother's side.

"Let's get this fight started!" Ukion shouted, and the crowd roared in response. He strapped on a keyboard guitar. In response, Dimitra took a black flute and brought it up to her lips. They began playing, their unconventional instruments harmonizing perfectly into a futuristic rock song. Konoha were completely floored.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Sakura finally screeched out above the music, and the two gang leaders stopped and stared at her.

"Gang fights are fought with instruments." Dimitra explained calmly."You didn't know this?"

"We're ninjas! We use weapons when we fight!" Kakashi explained harshly, pulling out a kunai as an emphasis.

"What the hell? If this is all you gangs do, why were we even called here to stop you?" Sakura screamed, furious that this mission was for nothing.

"I needed you Konoha ninja to come and help me stop them from playing their illegal music." Mayor Cygnus appeared from the crowd in all of his glittering glory.

"Illegal music? How can music be illegal?" Naruto questioned brashly.

"For the safety of the beautiful villagers, the Temple of the Syrinx has chosen what songs they can listen to, what music they may play, what tunes they may sing, and even what paintings they are allowed to view." The mayor had a disarming smile stretching his face.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Sasuke questioned.

"It's for their safety." The mayor repeated and shrugged.

Naru spoke up, her voice larger than herself, "Damn you, Cygnus! We should be allowed to sing what we wish!" Opening her mouth, she projected a high note that rang clear and bounced against the buildings. For most, it wasn't a problem, but it wreaked havoc on Sasuke's attuned ears. He fell to his knees and clutched the sides of his head. Blood dripped down from his hands. He began making choking noises, spraying the metal ground with spit.

"Sasuke!" Naruto dropped down beside Sasuke and rubbed the hurt boy's back.

"Damn it, what did you do to Sasuke?" he growled at Naru, who only raised a brow.

"Mayor Cygnus, I don't see any reason why my team should stay here anymore. We should go back to our village." Kakashi explained, and the small man immediately jumped in front of him.

"No, no, you can't go! You haven't done your job yet! My village is still in pandemonium!" he begged.

"They aren't even gangs, they're protestors! I'm certain you can deal with them yourself." Kakashi continued.

"I paid for two weeks! I paid for you to do your job and follow my orders! You're staying for two weeks!"The mayor demanded.

"SHUT UP! We'll stay for the rest of the time, just help Sasuke, dammit!" Naruto yelled over the two men, still clutching his shaking team mate. Kakashi sighed, but gave in. Sakura stared at Naruto with her mouth slightly agape. _Since when has Naruto been so protective of Sasuke? _She thought jealously.

"I'll send a medic to my house to help your friend." Cygnus's smile began to fade, but he shook his head and revealed his bright teeth again, "Well, I've got to go back to work! Toodle-loo!"

Naruto didn't bother to ask if Sasuke could walk; he knew that his inner ear was shot, which meant his balance was completely off. So, Naruto had to pick Sasuke up gingerly and hold him in his arms princess-style. When Sakura saw her rival holding her crush, she felt sick to her stomach, and she refused to look at them.

Naruto stayed in front of the group, nearly running with an urgency that Naruto saves only for dire situations. Kakashi's long legs managed to keep up without too much difficulty.

"Naruto, I could carry Sasuke. It must be hard to carry someone your same size." He said, his keen eyes glittering as he noted Naruto's blush.

"No, I'm okay. I'll carry him." He looked sideways at Sasuke who had to tighten his grip around Naruto's neck.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Your boyfriend will be okay." Kakashi shrugged.

"Good…" Naruto's head shot up. "Wait! What did you say? Boyfriend? He's not my boyfriend!" Kakashi began to laugh and sped up ahead of his team.

"I'm not your boyfriend. Is there something you're not telling me?" Sasuke's head spun so quickly that he got a cramp in his neck. Sasuke was looking at Naruto with one half-open eye, but he was slowly opening the other eye.

"I-it's nothing. Are you okay?" Naruto stammered, trying to change the subject.

"I'll be okay, but I've got a massive headache." Sasuke said with a little groan. His eyes darted around before he spoke again. "Are you holding me?" he asked, blood rushing to his face.

"Uh…yeah. Does that…bother you?" he braced himself for the answer.

Sasuke's mind was in turmoil as he floundered for an answer. _Wait, why do I even care?__How long am I going to stay in denial? You're smarter than this; you should have picked it up earlier! Put the pieces together! You almost had it when you sacrificed yourself for Naruto; what are your feelings for him?_ _Damn it… I know. But I can't._ While his thoughts raced on, Naruto unconsciously held Sasuke closer to his heart.

"No…I'm okay," Sasuke said, laying his head against Naruto's chest, listening to his rival's quick heartbeat.

"You know, dobe, you'd make a much better boyfriend than I would," Sasuke swore that he could hear the pounding heart skip a beat.


	9. In the Mood

**Chapter 9:In the Mood**

It took Sasuke a week to gain his balance back. It took that long for Naruto to get his hair color back, too. Every day seemed to get weirder and weirder for the ninjas. They really didn't have a job to do in the village. It was like being on vacation in the worst vacationing spot ever regurgitated by a disco.

Naomi and the boys kept their distance, so they were only seeing the team at meal times. Naruto spent the entire week tending after Sasuke and taking care of his every need. It went smooth enough, but every so often they would both reach towards something and their hands would brush, or they would stop and stare at each other before breaking away and blushing. Whenever Sasuke needed to walk, he had to hold on to Naruto's arm tightly. He had given up trying to wear those boots, so he decided to go bare-foot, which made Naruto about two inches taller than him. It was all-around awkward for the two of them. Kakashi would often peek in and see them talking about random things like what they would want to do if they weren't ninjas, or how weird it would be if guys wore mini-skirts.

Sakura spent a couple days sewing Sasuke's shirt perfectly. After she was finished, she spent as much time out of the house as she possibly could. At the moment, she was wandering the meager shopping center that only contained more uniforms should something happen to theirs, and red star accessories. She saw a stand with CDs and she checked them out, remembering the strict restrictions the Temple had placed. Not surprisingly, there was no variety; there was only one CD titled "Temple of the Syrinx Hymns".

"That's a wonderful CD there, miss." The old man behind the counter beamed at the pinkette.

"But it's the only one. Isn't there any other music?" Sakura was interrupted by a loud 'Shh!'

"Hush! We're happy with what we are given by the Temple, and we are grateful to the Temple." He said passionately, and Sakura's eyebrows furrowed.

"Was it always like this? Did you always have to wear these uniforms and listen to only these specific songs?" she pushed.

"Mayor Cygnus came into office twenty years ago and has made all of these wonderful changes to our village! We're very happy with them."

_This guy is obviously not twenty years old! He has to remember a time before Cygnus made these changes! _Sakura pressed on.

"Who was in charge before Cygnus?"

"I don't remember, miss. I'm so happy with the changes that Cygnus has made that I don't even want to think of how it was before!" he chuckled, "Well, enough about that. Would you be interested in some red star earrings?" he held out a gaudy pair.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "No, thank you. I have to get home now." She waved and left the store, walking towards the center of the village. She had to push through the swaying crowd that watched the screens on the Temple flash by. Finding herself slightly entranced, she watched the screen along with them. The happy voice of Cygnus boomed out of the loudspeaker with some beautiful background music.

"This wonderful village is home to so many amazing people. It is my home, it is our home, and it is your home! Enjoy it, my people!"

Sakura felt a smile pull on her lips before she even knew why. _This guy is persuasive. He only has to say some happy words and I'm smiling. And the music sounds so pretty…this reminds me of something. _She thought back to her lessons at the Ninja Academy, which she never forgets. The teacher was in front of the classroom, showing them a slideshow of pictures. The first one was a soda company's ad.

"_Look, children. Can you see the words this company hid in the picture?" _

"_It says 'Drink Our Soda' in the bubbles!" Sakura had caught it first; she was always the quick one in the class._

"_Correct!" the teacher smiled at her. "This is called subliminal messaging. A part in your brain notices these little messages, but you may be unaware of them. But, the next time you hear about this soda, your mind will bring this message up and you will want to drink it."_

"_Oi, I've heard of subliminal messaging! Is it true that some rock bands put satanic messages in this songs so they can brainwash people?" a young Kiba yelled out._

"_No yelling out, Kiba." The teacher reprimanded,"And I doubt that rock bands put messages in their music, but they might. Music is a powerful tool for subliminal messaging, because different types of music make us feel a certain way already. If the song is a hard rock song and the singer's yelling, we might feel angry. If it's a love song, we might feel like we're in love. Music makes a person very empathic."_

"Oh my god!" a switch in Sakura's brain flicked on, and she dashed towards her house to tell Kakashi of her suspicions.

_Oh my god. Why does he look so cute when he's ruffled up and in bed? Why is he biting his lip? Augh, he's torturing me! _Naruto was slowly dying with every move the beautiful Uchiha made. He watched as the pale boy stretched his lithe body and arched his back. Naruto nearly dropped the pills he was retrieving for him.

"So, what were you saying?" Sasuke's lips tantalized Naruto towards the edge.

"Um…something about wizards?" Naruto mumbled, not able to focus on words.

"Oh, yeah. You're right. Our jutsus are almost like spells. I guess if we didn't become ninja, we would be wizards. That would be…really weird. Not bad, just weird." Sasuke shrugged, but Naruto didn't notice. He was too busy staring at Sasuke's hip bones peaking up from above his waistband. He snapped out of it when he heard Sasuke cough.

"Uh, yeah. I like their hats, though." _I wonder how Sasuke would look in a wizard's robe…with nothing underneath…oh god! How long have I been such a pervert? No, stop! GO AWAY MENTAL IMAGES!_

"Are you feeling okay, Naruto?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. _Naruto? Naruto? Naruto? _Sasuke's voice echoed in Naruto's mind, and his eyes glazed over.

"Uh…Naruto?" Sasuke started to worry.

_He's so pretty, I wonder…_ Naruto thought as slowly lowered himself onto the bed.

"Naruto?" Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. _Something is really wrong, _he thought, and his body stiffened as Naruto slowly crawled over him. For a second, their eyes met. Sasuke saw a silver blur before he felt something soft press against his lips. He made a small surprised noise in his throat before his eyes fluttered shut. Naruto's fingers buried themselves deep in onyx hair, pulling Sasuke closer. They parted for air, and their shallow breathing warmed their faces like steam. Growling possessively, Naruto held tight and fell back onto his bed. Sasuke's lithe legs straddled Naruto's waist, and his hands were place at either side of the kitsune's head. Naruto smirked and pulled on Sasuke's collar, catching the delicious lips and sucking lustily. A rush of heat exploded from his mouth and poured down Sasuke's back. Not wanting to be dominated, he sat up and unbuttoned the red star then pulled Naruto's collar down to expose the sensitive neck. Naruto laughed huskily when he felt his neck being licked, nibbled, and sucked. Then, he gasped as his earlobe was enveloped in wet heat. He clutched Sasuke's sides tighter, his fingernails drawing blood; it didn't hurt Sasuke, whose mind could only process pleasure. Naruto drew Sasuke in for another kiss. His rosy tongue begged for entrance, and Sasuke released a moan as his mouth opened in compliance, drawing it in and meeting it with his own. Their kiss became aggressive as their tongues fought for dominance and moved from one mouth to the other. Their teeth clashed often, but they weren't focused enough to feel it. Once again they parted, their breath coming in pants. Their lips were swollen and covered in their mingling tastes.

"Sasuke..." Naruto moaned as they began to draw each other in closer for another kiss…

"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi's mocking voice turned Naruto into red-faced rocket that shot as far away from Naruto as possible. Sasuke also shot up, and wiped his mouth rigorously.

"What, Kakashi?" Naruto growled, not facing his sensei.

"I just came to tell you that Sakura has an interesting theory. She thinks that Cygnus might be using subliminal messaging to control this village." He said nonchalantly.

"Why didn't Sakura tell us that?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

"I don't know, something about hearing somebody moaning. Maybe she thought it was a ghost." Kakashi teased knowingly, and both boys dropped their heads in embarrassment.

Yes, Sakura had walked by the door, excited about her epiphany. She heard a moan that sounded like it came from Sasuke, and something inside of her snapped.

_Sasuke and Naruto? Naruto and Sasuke? TOGETHER? Naruto's bisexual? Since when? Well...he has always been pretty open-minded. And I know he's had a thing for me, but he always seemed to like Sasuke more. But what about me? I would have been happy with either of them! Why doesn't Sasuke like me!_

"_You're the same as Naruto. If you have time to bother me, practice a jutsu or two. Frankly, your ability is below Naruto." _

_He always was trying to get me to train instead of going after him…maybe…maybe he's right. I'm definitely not the greatest ninja, yet I worry more about my hair and looks. But Naruto, on the other hand, he gets better as a ninja and as a person every second he's around Sasuke. When they're together, they always seem…content. Even Sasuke's personality comes through. _

_I'm not as sad about this as I thought I would be. What does this mean?_

Sakura shook her head, choking down any more thoughts on the matter. She began the process of deluding herself into thinking that the moan was in pain; maybe they had gotten into a fight! _Yeah…that's it._

Sakura, who wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, ran into somebody and bounced back.

"I'm sorry!" she noticed that it was Mayor Cygnus. "Mayor Cygnus, I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!"

Cygnus just giggled and waved his hand, "It's absolutely alright. I was looking for you, anyway, dear!"

"Really? What for?" Sakura asked, following the Mayor. _This is my chance! I'll be able to see if he's really using subliminal messaging!_

"Oh, it's a surprise."

"Sakura-chan? Where are you? Look…I know it's a bit of a shock, I don't even know where it came from but…I hope you can understand! Sakura?" Naruto was yelling all through the house. He was confronted by a smiling Naomi.

"Sakura's at the Temple with my dear Cygnus." She said, happily.

_Oh shit! _"Oh, thank you. I'll right, see you later!" he ran away from the creepy lady and found Sasuke. He couldn't look at his team mate without blushing, but this was serious.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked, also blushing.

"Sakura's in trouble; she's at the Temple!" Naruto rushed. "Get Kakashi, get the weapons, and get out of that uniform-ah…" Naruto sunk down a bit when he realized what he said.

"I know what you meant." _But intriguing implications, nonetheless, _his Naruto-tainted mind added.

"The real fight's about to begin, boys. It's time to save Sakura…and Icha Icha Paradise!" Kakashi swung down from the ceiling, already dressed in his usual outfit. "Here's the plan…"


	10. New World Man

**Chapter 10: New World Man**

"This is impossible." Sasuke murmured in disbelief.

"How in the world do they get in?" Kakashi ran his hand over the warm metal of the Temple. They had found no entrance after an hour of searching. Kakashi was cursing, Sasuke was growling, and Naruto began yelling.

"How can you live like this?!" he screamed after he had jumped onto a low-hanging roof. He continued his erratic string of thoughts. "Don't you see how ridiculous you look? You're his mindless slaves; his playthings! Have you even heard of freedom? You don't have to live like this! The outside world is a billion times better than this asylum!"

"The outside world is dirty and unsafe! The Temple is wonderful! Lord Cygnus protects us!" A burly man yelled from the front of the mob that surrounded Naruto.

"Your 'Temple' is no more than a brainwashing facility!" Naruto retorted.

Kakashi left Sasuke as Naruto's back up, and then began to ascend the side of the temple by focusing his chakra to his feet and hands. He knew the risks; he could be walking over a one-way window at any point, but he pressed on. After checking the inside of any signs of chakra, he made the hand signs- Snake, Dragon, Horse, Ram, Bird, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, and Monkey.

"_Chidori!" _he hissed, before blasting a hole in the Temple. The crowd below was too busy roaring at Naruto to notice what was happening above.

"Poor oblivious people…" he muttered as he crawled through the shallow hole and successfully entered the Temple; but what he faced was the most unholy thing he had ever seen. Rows upon rows of incubators filled with green liquid stretched as far as he could see. The unclothed people inside were hooked to thousands of wires and tubes. Some of the bodies appeared coated with silver, and some were partially turned into the liquid metal he had seen the members of Aerosky turn into.

"Their Kekkei Genkai? These people all have it? All of these people share the same blood?"

"Not exactly, but you're close, brotha." Ukion took bouncing strides towards Kakashi. "They just had some of Lord Cygnus's blood put in them. Most of them reject it, but the nerds in the lab are trying to prevent that."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kakashi questioned darkly.

"You'll be one of them, soon. So will that little girlie."

Kakashi cursed, "Where is she?!"

Ukion interrupted, "Cut the talk. It's time to boogie!"

*****************

"Let me out of here, you pigs!" Sakura kicked the lab's door before dragging her tired body to the gleaming floor of the sterile lab. White sheets covered still figures; Sakura felt a chill whenever she looked at them, but now that she was looking at them, she noticed that they had clipboards at the end of their gurneys. Curious and bored, she crawled over to one gurney and pulled the doctor's clipboard out of its plastic holder. It was pages upon pages of scientific jargon, but the last page brought a scream to her lips that her hand muffled. She dropped the clipboard and pushed herself upright. After a moment's hesitation, she ripped the white sheet off of the body. The little Sasuke, Satoshi, lay in the gurney. Touching him with a finger, she felt that there was no pulse in his cold body. Tears flowed from her eyes as she tried to speak.

"You…were a…"

"A clone? Yes, he was. You see, DNA is not the most difficult thing to acquire, and your Sasuke had such beautiful DNA." Dimitra slinked towards the other gurney and took the sheet off, revealing a pasty Nozomu.

"Your friend, Naruto, was also easy to clone. They died when their bodies rejected Lord Cygnus's blood."

"His blood? Why would you put his blood in other people?" Sakura tried to appear confident, but her knees violently shook.

"Lord Cygnus has the amazing ability to turn into liquid silver and reform. He has gifted all of his people that gift and many others!" Dimitra sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs, but the effect was like a cat sinking low before pouncing on its prey.

"But it kills the people who reject it! He's a murderer!" Sakura's voice was a hysterical whisper.

"Only the worthy survive! I wonder…are you worthy?"

Sakura's mind told her to run like hell, but her thoughts couldn't reach her feet before she felt a prick in her neck. Her vision blurred, and time seemed to move at a snail's-pace. Not being able to fight it off, she slipped into unconsciousness.

**********************************

"And your tofu sucks!" Naruto was beginning to run out of arguments, but he knew he had to keep being the bait.

"That's it, child!" The man screamed, before singing the highest note he could. The rest of the crowd joined in, filling the streets with an ungodly keen. Sasuke, having seen this coming with his Sharingan, pounced on Naruto and covered the other boy's ears. Sasuke screamed as his ear drums rang painfully in his bleeding ears. Horrified, Naruto put his own hands over Sasuke's ears. They braced themselves against the tone as it rose in pitch and strength. The music made every cell in their bodies convulse. They were pushed by the sound waves towards a wall; Sasuke turned so he'd cushion Naruto's body. He released a strangled yelp as his own back and head cracked against the wall. When he opened his eyes, he saw horrified blue eyes that were near tears staring back at him.

_Damn it, I'm tougher than this! Don't cry! But…Sasuke's hurt! _Naruto berated himself mentally.

"I'm fine, dobe." Sasuke groaned as he peeled himself away from the dented metal. Naruto surprised Sasuke with a gentle peck that let him know that he was relieved. _I could get used to talking through kisses, _Sasuke's garbled mind let go of that fleeting thought as soon as a hand grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the Temple at a speed that was too fast for his aching body. Naruto sent kunai back into the fighting mob, but they were deflected using the same sound waves. _What are these people?_

Needing to get away from the soprano singers from Hell, they sprinted up the side of the Temple of the Syrinx. After a few minutes of frantic running, they made it to the roof, on which they collapsed.

"So lovely of you two to join us!"

"Cygnus!" Naruto panted, recovering as fast as he could. "You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Cygnus was flanked by the remaining gang members of Aerosky and Dragonskin, and he was also joined by Naomi.

"I'm making the best village in the world!" Cygnus emphasized 'world' by throwing his stubby arms into the air. "And I'm doing it by taking the best ninja from other villages! They remember nothing about where they come from or who they are! Every person here is an amazing weapon! You will be added to my arsenal soon, boy. And once it's big enough, I can have the best army! We will demolish all those filthy villages and replace them with my vision of perfection!"

"You prick! You're brainwashing people!" Sasuke growled, clinging onto Naruto's jacket for support.

"It's not brainwashing, you ignorant brat. My music is amazing; I engrain a suggestion in their mind like "Forget about the horrors of the past!" Then, I enhance the feelings that my words just made present in their minds until they can't hide them, and soon, they forget everything! With my music, no one can hide their feelings! I thought I could use this on you two because you seemed to hate each other...but, maybe I read your relationship wrong."

"You're just another jerk who wants to rule the world!" Naruto roared, his fists aching to connect with the mayor's fat face.

"Yes, and as cliché as this sounds, there's no one who can stop me; I'm invincible!" Lord Cygnus cackled, as all of the people around him- including Naomi, to their surprise- turned into liquid silver and coated him, becoming impenetrable armor.

"Fire Ball Jutsu!" Sasuke had quickly made the hand signs before blasting fire towards Cygnus. The silver was left unscathed as it absorbed the strong attack. Cygnus maliciously giggled, before an equally-large fireball aimed at the boys launched out of the metal. Sasuke tackled Naruto away just in time to avoid being thoroughly roasted. Naruto's first response was to hug Sasuke, trying to convey his gratitude. Sasuke raised his eyebrows, before a flash of understanding ripped through his genius mind.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice snapped him out of his planning mode. Knowing what to do, Sasuke sprinted towards the round edge of the U.F.O.-type roof. Sasuke took a deep breath…

"_**I LOVE UZUMAKI NARUTO!"**_


	11. In the End

**Chapter 11: In The End**

"As sweet as that is, this isn't the time for that!" Cygnus teased, before using his own power over sound to send Sasuke over the edge.

"_**SASUKE!"**_ Naruto shrieked, before attaching himself to the side of the building and running as fast as he could to catch up with the falling body of his team mate. He reached out his hand; the ground was coming up too fast. His thrust his hand out and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, moments before he would have hit the ground. Naruto pulled Sasuke to him, his shoulders shaking in relieved sobs. Stirring awake, Sasuke felt wet tears splashing on his face.

"Usuratonkachi," He whispered, with a hint of affection, "I think I know…how we could beat them."

*********************************

Kakashi's body was slammed in yet another incubator. The room was flooded up to his knees in the warm goo. Ukion was tiring out, but he wasn't hurt. The Sharingan could only let Kakashi dodge the brunt of the attacks, but he still sustained numerous injuries. Ukion had once again melted and was hiding somewhere beneath the green surface. Kakashi used his keen senses to try to sense his chakra, but instead, he felt two different chakras. One was familiar…

"Sakura!" Kakashi used his chakra to pull himself from the goop and sprint across its surface towards the familiar chakra.

_Thud, thud, thud!_

"Aaaargh!" Kakashi's concentration broke, sending him flying forward into the liquid. Three places in his back stung like hell, and it took him a moment to realize that he had been shot with hardened metal that was now liquefying. It spread out, sending intense pain throughout his entire body. Gritting his teeth, he righted himself and continued after Sakura. Behind him, Ukion reformed and began chasing after him.

"Whoa-ho, brotha! We got a fight goin' on here, don't leave the dance floor just yet!" he laughed mockingly, exposing his partially toothless smile; the rest of his teeth now travelling through Kakashi's veins.

"Sakura!" Kakashi yelled out once he saw Dimitra, who had Sakura flung over her shoulder like a sack.

"Oh, don't worry! As long as you two don't reject Lord Cygnus's blood, you can live together happily in this amazing village! We could even make you her father- how about that?"

"Is that what you've done to all these other people?" Kakashi's eyes widened, "They were all ninja!"

"And they don't remember anything but their training. I thought the Copy Ninja could have figured it out and noticed that all his emotions were being enhanced, but I guess not! You've disappointed me. You've disappointed Lord Cygnus!" She finished his sentence, sneering at his incompetence.

"Who were you before he brainwashed you?" Kakashi demanded. _Could anybody possibly remember?_

"I didn't exist; neither did all of Aerosky or Dragonskin. We are all the offspring of Lord Cygnus and Naomi!" the dark woman cackled mercilessly. "Well, actually, Zero isn't an offspring, he's an actual clone. A failed experiment, apparently one cannot clone Lord Cygnus. He has a horrible memory. Now, excuse me, someone needs to get into an incubator!"

Kakashi made the necessary hand signs. A screeching mass of chakra formed in his hand, bolts flying off in every direction. He dashed towards the woman- "CHIDORI!"

She laughed as she turned herself into liquid, but gasped as she watched Kakashi hook his arm around Sakura. He launched his Chidori through the wall and sent them through the new hole. Dimitra and Ukion watched as the two fell together, until Kakashi got his bearings and held onto the wall with chakra. They continued to fall at a rapid rate, but with a final burst of chakra, they landed on the ground safely. Sakura remained unconscious, and Kakashi was beginning to feel the effects of his low chakra supply. He heard someone scream from the top of the tall temple,

"_**I LOVE UZUMAKI NARUTO!"**_

"_**SASUKE!"**_

He then saw a falling figure, and soon it was followed by another one. The second one stopped their fall. Kakashi ran over, realizing that it was Naruto and Sasuke.

"Kakashi! Sakura!" Naruto yelped, letting Sasuke down gently. "You got her!"

"We have to get out of this village. This village is full of highly skilled ninja and many more people who can turn into that invincible liquid silver. We have no chance, we have to get out." Kakashi looked out at the large mob that was beginning to gather under them again.

"DAMN YOU TO HELL, NARUTO!" Sasuke hollered, before pulling Naruto in for a deep kiss. Some villagers growled loudly, while the other half chorused, "Awww…"

"I LOVE YOU, SASUKE!" Naruto yelled, catching on quickly. He punched Sasuke in the stomach, sending him flying down into the crowd. Naruto followed him closely, yelling a string of curses and compliments.

"YOU'RE A SEXY ASSHOLE! THIS ENTIRE VILLAGE IS STUPIDLY AWESOME! DOWN WITH THE WONDERFUL TEMPLE!" Naruto yelled, running through the crowd. One person fell over, twitching and foaming from the mouth. Sasuke noticed, and grinned triumphantly at Naruto.

"YOU'RE AN ADORABLE IDIOT!" Sasuke said, kicking Naruto in the stomach. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" he growled, before they began to make out as loudly as they could.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Cygnus screeched, flying down from the roof. He looked around at his villagers, who were dropping like flies every time the boys gave them mixed messages. "YOU'RE FRYING THEIR MINDS! STOP IT! STOP!" Cygnus sent a silver bullet into Sasuke's back.

Holding in a scream, he let it out as a pleasured moan, "Ooh, that feels so good! YOU'RE A PRICK CYGNUS!" More people fell and began convulsing. The liquid metal around Cygnus melted off of him and formed into the gang members. Their conflicting enhanced feelings were sending their minds over the edge until they passed out, also.

"Oh, whatever! So, you took down my villagers, you still can't beat me! I already told you idiots, I'm _invincible."_

"What the _hell _am I_ wearing?" _the burly man who had argued with Naruto stood up once he recovered from his seizure.

"Cygnus! You demon! Where's my wife!" the crowd slowly rose, and their chakra flared awake. Each person was preparing the jutsu or Kekkei Genkai that made them a good addition to Cygnus's army, but they were now turning that power against him. Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi- who was still carrying Sakura in his arms- ran through the crowd as fast as they could. They made it to the gates just before a large explosion of chakras. The Temple of the Syrinx launched far into the sky before it exploded in a flaring light. The small pieces rained down on the ex-Villagers of the Syrinx, one piece landing in front of Kakashi.

"Icha Icha Paradise!" Kakashi squealed, petting his partially-scorched book.

Team Seven sighed in relief as they heard Cygnus's final cry.

*********************************************

"Is that all, Kakashi?" the Third Hokage croaked deeply, his wrinkles deepened by his puzzlement.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama. Sakura is recovering in the hospital, and the brainwashing doesn't seem to have had any permanent effect on us.

The Hokage nodded, "That's enough, Kakashi. Can you leave me and the boys alone for a moment?"

Sasuke and Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably as Kakashi bowed and left the office.

"How have you boys…felt?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Um…" Naruto couldn't continue. He just hung his blushing head.

Sasuke coughed before speaking up. "Cygnus said that he was trying to enhance our emotions through the music. He thought that our rivalry would be intensified, but that didn't happen. So, we think that a message in a song made us act...that way."

"But you do realize that the brainwashing music only enhanced the feelings that were already present? If I was listening properly, no one made any subliminal messages telling you two to fall in love." The Hokage scratchily laughed as Sasuke's head also dropped, blushing.

"I…I'm going to stick what I said." He stammered. "We'll be leaving now, Hokage-Sama." Sasuke forced Naruto to bow, before they hurried out of the office. Once they were outside, they looked at each other for a moment.

"Let's…just forget about what happened. We weren't in the right mind, and we did some weird things. You're still my rival." Naruto rushed through that, and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"I'll…see you later, then." Sasuke muttered, turning to walk away. Naruto also turned away as he lifted a waving hand.

"Later, Sasuke-chan."

The boys stopped dead in their tracks, and a bird cawed in the distance. The blushing boys broke out of their stupor and resumed walking away from each other. And they both started running once they thought the other was far enough away.

Naruto slammed his door shut, and stepped into his house. He jumped and yelled in pain, clutching his foot. He had stepped on the glass that was still on his floor. But the sight of the vandalism didn't upset him anymore; he didn't feel hated. He cleaned it up with a smile, thoughts stubbornly drifting to his make-out session with Sasuke, and his mind repeated those words that Sasuke screamed: "I love Uzumaki Naruto!" And as much as he wanted to ignore it, Sasuke was an amazing kisser. He felt so _nice..._

_***********************************************_

Someone was holding him; he could feel the strong arms around his waist. Why were they touching him like that? His back involuntarily arched as a rough hand roamed over the sensitive skin on his inner thigh. His lips were overtaken by a hungry mouth, and a tongue dipped in and out of his mouth in a sensual rhythm. He returned the favor by sucking on the wet muscle, eliciting a pleasured groan from his lover. He heard someone's aroused panting, and he realized it came from him. He moaned his lovers name…

"Naruto…" The twenty-year-old Sasuke stirred awake; he was covered in sweat. He flushed, remembering the dream, and turned over in his bed.

"Good morning, Sasuke-chan." Naruto bent his head and kissed his husband's rosy lips.

"Don't call me that." Sasuke complained, but he returned the kiss.

"Hey, I changed my name to Uchiha Naruto! The least you could do is let me call you something a little feminine!" he teased, tickling the pale man's chest.

Sasuke pushed Naruto away roughly, before standing up and sauntering into the bathroom. Enticed by his husband's fluid movements, Naruto followed him in, turning the radio on. They stripped and entered the shower, kissing roughly and becoming more aroused every moment.

"Naruto…" Sasuke voice was lowered by the intense pleasure he was already feeling.

"Hm, Sasuke-chan?" Naruto teasingly asked.

"I…I-"

"**I'M A BARBIE GIRL!"** Aqua screeched from the radio.

"Damn it!" Sasuke growled as Naruto began to laugh hysterically.

_Owari_

CYBER POPCORN FOR ME! I FINISHED! This was technically my first fan fiction! I have two other one-shots out, but this is my first big project. Thanks to anybody who review or even reads the whole thing! I'm now done! I hope you liked my story, I'll be writing more one-shots now. My idea for my next one is more NaruXSasu- While sparring, Naru breaks Sasuke's ass (tail bone) and so Naruto has to help Sasuke heal, while putting up with people constantly sniggering, "Naruto, be more careful with him in bed! You broke his ass!" Muhahaha! I love you all *~*~*~*~*~


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